Shay Khatiri, 29, a student of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims.
The D.C. graduate student started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the victim families. Khatiri was able to raise more than $480,000 on the GofundMe page over the weekend, becoming the highest fundraiser on the site. The fundraiser also got more 29,000 shares, and counting, on Facebook.
“An anti-Semite attacked and killed several attendees to a baby’s bris at a Pittsburgh synagogue. This fundraiser is meant to help the congregation with the physical damages to the building, as well as the survivors and the victims’ families,” the campaign page points out. “Respond to this hateful act with your act of love today.”
“I thought to myself, ‘Worst comes to worst, it will raise like $500.’ Which is better than nothing but it’s a little above that now,” said Khatiri.
Khatiri, a political refugee from Iran, said he’s at present staying at a Jewish friend’s apartment.
“I don’t believe my debt to them is by any account even. It was only two minutes of my life. People are giving me too much credit,” said Khatiri. “Credit goes to those who have donated.”
In view of Saturday’s mass shooting incident at a Pittsburgh Synagogue that left 11 people dead and several injured, the district administration has stepped up security around places of worship in D.C.