Mourners pack emotional vigil
MOURNERS held an emotional vigil on Sunday for victims of a fatal shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, an assault that saw a gunman who said he “wanted all Jews to die” open fire on a mostly elderly group.
Americans had earlier learned the identities of the 11 people killed in the brutal assault at the Tree of Life synagogue, including 97-year-old Rose Mallinger and couple Sylvan and Bernice Simon, both in their 80s.
Nine of the victims were 65 or older. The auditorium of downtown Pittsburgh’s Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum was packed for the 90-minute vigil, which began with music from an African-American choir.
Speakers said thousands more had gathered in the cold rain outside, listening in via loudspeaker.
A female cleric led an a capella rendition of the nationa l anthem and a male cantor read the Hatik vah – a Jew ish poem and Israel’s nationa l anthem.
“Words of hate are unwelcome in Pittsburgh,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers to a standing ovation, which he followed with a message to political leaders.
The rabbi, who had helped pull people out of the synagogue after the attack, chanted a memorial prayer in Hebrew, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.
Similar events took place nationwide, with words of solace pouring in from the US Jewish community – the largest outside Israel – as well as the pope and European leaders.
Federa l officia ls said on Sunday t hat 46-year-old suspect Robert Bowers – arrested at the sy nagogue after a firefight wit h police – faces 29 federa l charges, many carr y ing the death penalt y.
He has been hospitalised with multiple gunshot wounds but will appear before a federal magistrate on Monday.
‘In shock’
The assault on the 150-year-old congregation was the deadliest antiSemitic attack in recent US history.
Squirrel Hill, the close-knit neighbourhood and heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community where the shooting occurred, was in shock.
Authorities said the gunman burst into the building early Saturday and opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and two Glock handguns in a 20-minute rampage.
Four police officers or SWAT team members were injured, one critically.
E. Joseph Charny, 90, was worshipping in a room with a half-dozen people when he saw a man appear in the doorway and heard shots ring out, he told the Washington Post.
“I looked up and there were all these dead bodies,” said Charny, a retired psychiatrist who has attended services at Tree of Life since 1955.
Donald Trump on Saturday denounced t he attack, say ing, “t he scourge of anti-Semitism cannot be ignored, cannot be tolerated and cannot be a llowed to continue.”
But on Sunday he blamed the media for stoking tensions: “The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our country.”
‘Fake reporting’
“Actually, it is t heir Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand! ” he said.
He earlier said one answer to apparent hate crimes was to provide guards at places of worship, not to tighten gun laws.
Trump said he would travel to Pittsburgh to express his condolences.
But some v ictims’ families reportedly have litt le desire to see a president blamed by many for fanning hatred, and a group of Jew ish leaders from t he cit y released an open letter on Sunday telling Trump he bears responsibilit y for t he shooting.
Jonat han Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said he was encouraged by Trump’s words after Pittsburgh but a lso sounded a note of caution.
Bowers lived in the Baldwin Borough suburb of Pittsburgh, less than half an hour’s drive south of Tree of Life.
He reportedly worked as a trucker, and has been linked to a rash of anti-Semitic online posts, notably on Gab.com, a site frequented by white nationa lists.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Saturday, he told police he “wanted all Jews to die and that [Jews] were committing genocide to his people.”