Pittsburgh remembers those who tried to save

PITTSBURGH — Heroic stories about those who tried to save Jewish worshippers amid gunfire and chaos emerged Monday as the community tried to begin healing following the tragic synagogue shooting that claimed 11 lives.

“People are resilient. People will go back to their lives. Maybe not today, maybe not next week, but in three months,” said Robert O’doherty, 56, a university researcher who lives in the neighborhood.

The Squirrel Hill neighborhood serves as the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, and Jewish worshippers were targeted because of their faith. The youngest victim was 54, the oldest 97. The toll included a husband and wife, professors, dentists and physicians.

On Monday, people grappled with the senselessness of the tragedy as the accused gunman, Robert Bowers, appeared in federal court on charges that include hate crimes.

Bowers, who suffered gunshot wounds in a shootout with police, was wheeled into court. A judge ordered the 46-year-old truck driver held without bail for a preliminary hearing Thursday, when prosecutors will outline their case. He did not enter a plea.

HEROES

to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign in the days following at what became a makeshift shrine to the victims. He made another 58 this year to commemorate the anniversary.

A relative of one of those killed in the synagogue shooting reached out to him immediately afterward and asked him to make the personalized memorials — each with one coat of white paint, the name of a victim, a decorated heart and a message — in the shape of the Star of David rather than his typical cross design. By 1:30 p.m. Saturday, he committed to travel to Pittsburgh with the 11 stars.

“As a Christian, I want to show solidarity,” Zanis said.

He had arranged with nine people to coordinate the placing of the 2-foot wooden stars outside the synagogue. Several people recognized his pickup when he arrived Sunday, including some media members who had covered him in Las Vegas. It is a familiar process.

“I do this a lot now,” Zanis said. Shortly after grabbing the first memorial from his pickup, Zanis said, he spoke with a pair of men. He asked whether they knew anybody who was killed. He was holding the memorial of their brother, he said. The pair grabbed it and placed the first of 11 outside the synagogue.

He said police let the families place the memorials in front of the synagogue, which remained a taped-off crime scene during the five hours he spent in Pittsburgh, four of which he said he spent speaking with loved ones. He hopes the stars will remain there for 40 days, roughly the length of time the crosses were left at the makeshift Las Vegas memorial.

“I’m just so despondent and broken with what’s going on here,” Zanis said.

The past year has been particularly hard for Zanis, who lost his daughter to a heroin overdose on Jan. 28, he said. Two weeks later, he delivered 17 crosses to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

He’s made about 5,000 memorials since the Las Vegas shooting, and requests for memorials keep increasing, he said. He’s lost weight, and the work is taking a toll on him.

“I can’t understand how I can ever fill all these orders,” Zanis said.

But he continues crafting them, he said, because he wants to show the country “a different type of love” and steer attention away from those who commit acts of violence. It’s a show of support for groups of people who have been victims of attacks, such as the 49 killed in a gay nightclub shooting in 2016 in Orlando, Florida, and the six killed in a Wisconsin Sikh temple in 2012.

“We’re all in this together,” Zanis said.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.