After synagogue shooting, painful memories for woman who may have been target

The gunfire that shattered a quiet hour of prayer in a synagogue haunts a woman who thinks the bullets were ultimately intended for her.

But Marta Pinto left the holiday service early, unable to withstand the angry glare of a man she says snared her in an abusive relationship, with its violent unraveling documented in court records.

“He destroyed me. My spirit is on the floor,” Pinto, 52, said in a brief phone interview Thursday.

Pinto referred to Marc Benayer, 79, arrested Tuesday after shooting Jonathan Samuels, 44, during Rosh Hashana services at Chabad Weltman Synagogue west of Boca Raton.

Samuels was shot twice in the back. He was listed in serious condition Thursday at Delray Medical Center.

Benayer is being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail.

Marta Pinto is an assembly worker at Samuels’ Pompano electronics factory.

All three are members of the synagogue, and their tale begins about two years ago when Pinto met Benayer at the synagogue while mourning her husband of 16 years. They began a relationship and moved into a home west of Boca Raton with Pinto’s 16-year-old daughter, Henriette. But the relationship soon failed, with mother and daughter alleging in court records that they were the targets of Benayer’s intensifying outbursts and abusive threats.

A judge revoked a restraining order against Benayer, saying there was no proof of physical abuse to justify the order. Benayer eventually agreed to sell his share of their home and moved to Century Village, but records state he continued to besiege Pinto with threats.

Pinto sought the help of her employer, Samuels, and his intervention made him the object of Benayer’s wrath.

On Tuesday, Pinto was at the synagogue with her current boyfriend and daughter, but the three left moments before shots rang out.

“I managed to get that man out of the house and he was angry,” Pinto said Thursday. “He was following around with threats and driving me crazy, but that he got a gun and shot my boss is unimaginable … We had left five minutes earlier. That I’m alive is a miracle. That my daughter is alive is a miracle. I would have died had he harmed my daughter.”

Two days after the violence, Henriette Pinto spoke in brief, stunned words.

“I don’t even really know what happened the other day,” she said when reached by phone Thursday. “I’m totally just scared right now. … I’m not even talking to people I know.”

Samuels was making a steady but slow recovery Thursday afternoon, according to his brother-in-law, Stephen Katz. He is expected to be in intensive care for weeks to come.

Both bullet wounds were within millimeters of being fatal, doctors told the family.

Katz and the Samuels are close friends who emigrated from South Africa in the 1990s with their families and live minutes apart in Boca Raton.

“Ironically, we left South Africa to escape the violence over here,” Katz said.

Katz described Samuels as an avid sportsman and a South African springboard diving champion. He also is someone who goes to great lengths to help others, Katz said. He and his wife have two teenagers who were at the service when the shooting occurred.

“Minutes before he got shot in temple, he told me he wanted to buy concert tickets for a congregant because he knew [the congregant] couldn’t afford them,” Katz said. “That’s what he was thinking about.”

Though he paid a hefty price for helping Pinto, Katz thought Samuels’ altruistic ways would remain unshaken.

“The reason he got into this mess is because he wanted to help somebody,” Katz said. “When he’s back on his feet he’ll probably help the next person.”