A shooting at a Californian synagogue has left one woman dead and three people injured.

A woman has died and three other people are injured after a shooting at a synagogue outside San Diego, California.

County sheriff William Gore said a white man opened fire on worshippers at Chabad of Poway with an AR-type assault weapon just before 11.30am local time on Saturday..

San Diego Police chief David Nisleit said the 19-year-old suspect called police to report the shooting, and was subsequently arrested by a California Highway Patrol officer.

Nisleit said the suspect got out of his car with his hands up and was taken into custody without incident.

Gore confirmed a woman died from her injuries, while a girl and two men are in hospital in a stable condition.

He said an off-duty Border Patrol agent believed to be inside the synagogue at the time shot at the suspect as he fled. The sheriff said the agent did not hit him, but struck his car.

President Donald Trump offered “deepest sympathies to the families of those affected” by the shooting.

He said the shooting “looked like a hate crime” and called it “hard to believe”, while speaking from the White House South Lawn before flying to a rally in Wisconsin.

The Chabad of Poway was worshipping on the last day of Passover, exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people.