TIMES OF ISRAEL
Messianic San Bernardino victim was ‘gentile’ supporter of Israel, argued with killer on Islam
by Uriel Heilman
December 5, 2015

While America puzzles over the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, many American Jews are puzzling over an additional element: the religious identity of victim Nicholas Thalasinos. Pictured on his Facebook page wearing a scarf-style tallit prayer shawl, Thalasinos, who was killed along with 13 others in Wednesday’s shooting at a center for people with disabilities, has been variously identified in media reports as a Jew, a Zionist and, in some cases, a messianic Jew. Just two weeks ago, Thalasinos reportedly got into a heated argument about the nature of Islam with co-worker Syed Farook, whom authorities said perpetrated the horrific San Bernardino attack along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik. READ MORE