One of San Bernardino Shooting Victims Was Messianic Jew
One of the victims of Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, California has been identified as a Messianic Jew.
Nicholas Thalasinos, 52, was a health department worker and colleague of the suspected shooter. Thalasinos was gunned down along with 13 others during a work holiday party.
In a phone interview with The New York Times, Jennifer Thalasinos, the victim’s wife, told the paper that he was among the same “little group” of employees as Syed Farook, the suspected shooter.
“He had worked with [Farook],” Jennifer Thalasinos said. “He had talked about him. Nothing negative.”
Photo of Nicholas Thalasinos with wife Jennifer who says her health inspector husband was one of the SB fatalities. pic.twitter.com/DiY6Ku6gTh
— Jeff Nguyen (@jeffnguyen) December 3, 2015
Thalasinos said that she and her husband were Messianic Jews, or members of the so-called Jews for Jesus group.
Thalasinos often wore traditional Jewish tassels, called tzitzit. Thalasinos said her husband was politically conservative and often posted about Israel and politics on his social media.
“My husband was very outspoken about ISIS and all of these radicalized Muslims,” she said to the Times. “If he would’ve thought that somebody in his office was like that, he would’ve said something.”
According to philly.com, the day before the shootings, Thalasinos had posted a threat he had received on social media. It included the words “you will die and never see Israel.”
Authorities have not yet released a motive for the shooting and there is no evidence that Thalasinos was a specific target.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
