Um... the guy mentioned it in his manifesto. Now I can’t find any John Earnests from the pilgrims. I thought the name sounded familiar, but I guess I was wrong.
Discussion on the FR thread; there is a very weird photo of Earnest and his father... and I’ll copy from the NBC article.
Who Is John T. Earnest? Suspect in Poway Synagogue Shooting
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3745202/posts
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore confirmed that the suspect in the Poway synagogue shooting is 19-year-old John T. Earnest from San Diego.
According to a manifesto, published online shortly after 10 a.m. PST on Saturday, Earnest also takes responsibility for an Escondido Mosque arson a month prior. During that incident, Earnest spray-painted messages referencing the New Zealand mosque shooting.
The synagogue shooting and the mosque arson were less than 9 miles apart.
In the manifesto, Earnest states he was attending nursing school but did not specify the exact location. On 8chan, a far-right message board website, a user identified as Earnest said he planned to livestream the shooting on Facebook but the Facebook account he linked to has since been deactivated.
Filled with racist rants and quotes from the Bible, Earnest praises the suspects responsible for the New Zealand mosque and Pittsburgh synagogue shootings and adds they were his inspiration for the planned shooting in Poway.