Police: US synagogue shooting suspect driven by hatred of Jews
THE suspect in the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and told officers afterward that Jews were committing genocide and that he wanted them all to die, according to charging documents made public yesterday.
Robert Gregory Bowers killed eight men and three women inside the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday during worship services before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him, authorities said in state and federal affidavits, which contained some unreported details on the shooting and the police response.
“I just want to kill Jews,” Bowers told an officer, according to one of the documents.
Officials released the names of all 11 victims during a news conference yesterday, all of them middle-aged or elderly. The victims included a pair of brothers and a husband and wife. The oldest was 97.
Mayor Bill Peduto called it the “darkest day of Pittsburgh’s history.”
Calls began coming in to 911 from the synagogue just before 10am Saturday. Bowers, 46, shot one of the first two officers to respond in the hand, and the other was wounded by “shrapnel and broken glass,” according to court documents.
A tactical team found Bowers on the third floor, where he shot two officers multiple times, an affidavit said.
One of the wounded officers was treated and released, and a second was expected to be released yesterday. The other two officers were expected to stay in the hospital, and one, a 40-year-old man, remained in critical condition yesterday.
Two other people in the synagogue were wounded by Bowers. A 61-year-old woman was listed in stable condition, and a 70-year-old man was in critical condition, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and three handguns and used all four weapons in the attack, told an officer while he was being treated for his injuries “that he wanted all Jews to die and also that they (Jews) were committing genocide to his people,” a Pittsburgh police affidavit said.
Bowers was charged with 11 state counts of criminal homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation in what the leader of the Anti-Defamation League called the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.
Bowers was also charged in a 29-count federal criminal complaint that included counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death — a federal hate crime — and using a firearm to commit murder. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the charges “could lead to the death penalty.”
Bowers, who underwent surgery and remained hospitalized, is scheduled for a court appearance today. It wasn’t clear whether he had an attorney.