Gunman attacks synagogue, killing 11
Suspect arrested in Pittsburgh rampage that injured 6, including 4 officers
PITTSBURGH — Armed with an AR-15style assault rifle and at least three handguns, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a crowded Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, killing at least 11 congregants and wounding four police officers and two others, authorities said.
In a rampage described as among the deadliest against the Jewish community in the United States, the assailant stormed into the Tree of Life Congregation, where worshippers had gathered in separate rooms to celebrate their faith and shot indiscriminately into the crowd, shattering what had otherwise been a peaceful morning.
The assailant, identified by law enforcement officials as Robert D. Bowers, fired for several minutes and was leaving the synagogue when officers, dressed in tactical gear and armed with rifles, met him at the door. According to police, Bowers exchanged gunfire with officers before retreating back inside and barricading himself inside a third-floor room. He eventually surrendered.
Bowers, 46, was wounded by gunfire, although authorities said it was unclear whether those wounds were self-inflicted or whether police had shot him. He was in stable condition Saturday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Federal officials charged Bowers with 29 criminal counts. They include obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs — a hate crime — and using a firearm to commit murder. The authorities said that he had no previous criminal history.
The massacre Saturday was at least the third mass shooting in a house of worship in three years. Almost a year ago, a gunman killed 26 worshippers at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and in 2015, a white supremacist killed nine congregants in a church in Charleston, S.C.
Although a bris, a ceremony to mark a child’s birth, was among the ceremonies taking place Saturday, no children were among the casualties, law enforcement officials said. The wounded included a 70-year-old man who had been shot in the torso, and a 61-year-old woman with soft tissue wounds, said Dr. Donald Yealy, chairman of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The attack Saturday struck the heart of the city’s vibrant Jewish community, in the leafy Squirrel Hill neighborhood that is home to several synagogues, kosher restaurants and bakeries. Hours later, hundreds gathered at three separate interfaith vigils on a cold, rainy evening to mourn the dead and pray for the wounded.
The assault on the synagogue unfolded on a quiet, drizzly morning, and came amid a bitter, vitriolic midterm election season and against the backdrop of what appears to be a surge in hate-related speech and crimes across America. It also took place in the wake of the arrest Friday morning of a man who authorities said sent more than a dozen pipe bombs to critics of President Donald Trump, including several high-profile Democrats.
Calling it the “most horrific crime scene” he had seen in 22 years with the FBI, Robert Jones, special agent in charge in Pittsburgh, said the synagogue was in the midst of a “peaceful service” when congregants were gunned down and “brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith.”
“We simply cannot accept this violence as a normal part of American life,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, speaking at news conference Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh. “These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Pennsylvanians and are not who we are as Americans.”
The anguish of Saturday’s massacre heightened a sense of national unease over increasingly hostile political rhetoric. Critics of Trump have argued that he is partly to blame for recent acts of violence because he has been stirring the pot of nationalism, on Twitter and at his rallies, charges that Trump has denied.
About Saturday’s attack, Trump, addressing reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, said: “It’s a terrible, terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country and frankly all over the world, and something has to be done.”
“The results are very devastating,” he said, adding that if the temple “had some kind of protection” then “it could have been a much different situation.”
Later, speaking to reporters as he got off Air Force One in Illinois, Trump said he planned to visit Pittsburgh but did not say when.
Leaders in the United States and across the world condemned the attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he was “heartbroken and appalled” and that the “the entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said criminal charges by the Justice Department “could lead to the death penalty.”
On Saturday, the Tree of Life Congregation was holding services for three separate congregations when the gunman stormed in with an AR-15-style assault rifle, a Glock, and two other handguns, and began shooting.
Police dispatchers received the first emergency calls at 9:54 a.m., Jones of the FBI said, and police officers, including a SWAT team, were dispatched a minute later. Bowers had already shot and killed 11 people and was on his way out of the synagogue, Jones said, when he encountered police officers and shot at them.
He went back into the synagogue to hide from SWAT officers who were moving in, Jones said. He was in the synagogue for about 20 minutes, law enforcement officials said.
“By the time I got there they were already starting to extract people,” said Chief Scott Schubert of the Pittsburgh police. “Watching those officers running into the dangers to remove people and get them to safety was unbelievable.”
On Saturday night, authorities were still piecing together a portrait of Bowers, and had searched his apartment with a robotic bomb detector and police dogs. His apartment is in a neighborhood dotted with mostly small to medium brick homes, about a 25-minute drive south of Pittsburgh in the suburb of Baldwin Borough.
Rep. Mike Doyle, who represents Pennsylvania’s 14th District, where the synagogue is, said Bowers had 21 guns registered to his name.
“I don’t think anybody really knows this guy, other than he was a hateful anti-Semite who had posted anti-Semitic views,” Doyle said. “We’re all kind of numb, kind of in shock, it’s not really something that happens much here.”
Anti-Semitism appeared to run deep for Bowers. Before it was deleted Saturday morning, a social media account believed to belong to him was filled with anti-Jewish slurs and references to anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.
In January, an account under his name was created on Gab, a social network that bills itself as a free speech haven. The app, which grew out of claims of anti-conservative bias by Facebook and Twitter, is a popular gathering place for alt-right activists and white nationalists whose views are unwelcome on other social media platforms.
Several weeks ago, Bowers’ account posted a link to the website of HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit organization, which was planning a shabbat ceremony for refugees in locations around the country. The caption read: “Why hello there HIAS! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us?”
Hours before the gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue, the account posted again: “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”