Suspect in synagogue shooting held without bond

Worshipers have sense of relief after Carlints St. Louis arrested

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A suspect in last month's synagogue shooting near North Miami Beach will remain behind bars.

Carlints St. Louis was ordered held without bond Wednesday morning in connection with the July 28 shooting outside Young Israel of Greater Miami.

St. Louis, 30, of Hallandale Beach, was arrested Tuesday on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery on a person 65 or older and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.

"It gives us here at the synagogue a feeling of security, because as long as he was on the street who knows what and when and if he would do this again," Rabbi David Lehrfield said. 

Miami-Dade police said Yosef Lipshutz was unlocking the doors to the synagogue before a Sunday service when St. Louis stepped out of a black Chevrolet Impala and opened fire.

Lifshutz, 68, was wounded and collapsed on the ground.

Detectives used data from license plate readers and St. Louis' cellphone records to identify him as a suspect. 

St. Louis filed a police report with the Hallandale Beach Police Department saying that his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol had been stolen from his car. When he was arrested, officers found a loaded semi-automatic firearm magazine inside the Toyota Corolla he was driving. 

Detectives learned the Hornady brand ammunition that was in the magazine matched the 9 mm casings that crime scene investigators found outside the synagogue, police said.

"We are so appreciative of the police department for the work they have done," Lehrfield said. "We are so thankful to them for their persistence and their wisdom in apprehending this killer."

Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said her office is working to determine whether St. Louis should be charged with a hate crime.

"Our residents should not have to live in fear of violence when they are in their chosen place of worship," she said in a statement. "I am committed to filing the appropriate charges based on the evidence we uncover and to vigorously prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law."

There was a sense of relief among worshipers at the synagogue Wednesday, almost a month after the shooting.

"Now that he's been apprehended, we feel a little bit more secure that maybe it will not happen again," Lehrfield said.