Area Day Camps More Vigilant After Shooting

One preschool closed early Tuesday while other Jewish schools in Ventura County stepped up security and tried to calm the fears of panicked parents after the shooting spree at a Granada Hills Jewish community center.

Administrators at Congregation B’Nai Emet preschool--a summer day camp for Jewish children in Simi Valley--sent pupils home early after receiving a flood of calls from parents worried that their children might be in danger.

Although it was the most visible example of the fear that followed in the wake of the shooting that left five people wounded in Granada Hills, many Jewish leaders in Ventura County were alarmed.

“It had me and everyone else concerned enough that we felt we had to do something,” said Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller of the Temple Beth Torah in Ventura.

She considered calling police, but at the same time “didn’t want to blow this out of proportion.” So she decided the best course was to direct her staff to keep an even closer eye than usual on children attending the synagogue’s day camp.

According to police, a gunman entered a summer preschool in Granada Hills on Tuesday morning and fired 20 to 30 shots before fleeing. Among the injured were two 6-year-olds and a 5-year-old.

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and federal agents fanned out to search for the gunman, which is one reason parents and other area Jews in Ventura County were so concerned.

Jewish community leaders such as Hochberg-Miller remained within earshot of a television to hear the latest on the victims and police efforts to capture the gunman.

Until they were sure, few wanted to label the shooting a hate crime, but they also didn’t want to stand idly by, knowing that such crimes happen all too frequently.

At Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, Rabbi Shimon Paskow gathered his staff to review emergency procedures. They located alarm buttons and the emergency telephone.

Auxiliary doors were locked so that visitors had to enter through the front door, where there was a security camera.

“We’re beefing up our security here,” Paskow said.

Law enforcement authorities also stepped up patrols around area synagogues and Jewish centers to help allay fears. Among those they were asked to watch were the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, and the Adat Elohim Reform Temple of the Conejo Valley and Temple Etz Chaim, both in Thousand Oaks, where day camps for children are being held.

“We don’t know why this situation in Granada Hills happened yet,” said Capt. Keith Parks of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. “It could have been a hate crime or a selected target or random, but whatever it is you have to take precautions and be aware of it.”

Although synagogues and other Jewish centers have been the targets of violence in the past, the fact that it happened so close to home increased concern.

“Nobody’s out there checking passports on the Conejo Grade,” said Rabbi Kenneth Milhander of the Jewish Families of Camarillo-Temple Nehr Ami. “So I guess that’s one of the reasons this shocks us so much.”

Jewish groups have long been security-minded, knowing that they are the targets of hate groups. However, few said that the Granada Hills shooting, even if it was motivated by religious hatred, will lead them to take any additional steps to heighten security.

“I don’t think we’ll do anything we haven’t already been doing,” Milhander said. “There’s a thousand-year history of anti-Semitism, so this shouldn’t be a wake-up call for anyone.”

Times staff writer Margaret Talev and Times Community News reporter Holly Wolcott contributed to this story.