US synagogue attack leaves at least 8 dead

WASHINGTON: At least eight people were killed in a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburg shortly after it opened for Sabbath services on Saturday, a holy day for Jewish people.

Multiple people were wounded, including police officers. The gunman, said to be a white man, was taken into custody. He was identified as Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old man from Pittsburg.

He used a military-style AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle , which had been used in multiple mass shootings, and a handgun.

The suspect opened fire at the congregation at around 10:30 local time, came out and exchanged fire with police officers before he was arrested, after suffering a bullet injury himself.

Bowers has reportedly posted anti-semitic comments on his social media accounts, and is reported to have used them also during the shooting. In one post on Twitter, before the account was taken down, he had railed against an organisation that aids immigration of Jewish people.

The synagogue, called the Tree of Life at Squirrel Hill, which has a large Jewish community, was also hosting a “bris”, at which parents mark the eighth day of their newborn.

It’s “a terrible thing what’s going … in our country,” President Donald Trump said of the shooting. But when asked if it was time to take a look at gun laws, he said the tragedy might have been averted if there was an armed guard inside the synagogue, in line with what has said before about other such mass shootings.

He had in the past suggested arming teachers after a mass shooting at a Florida school.

He said killers like the one in Saturday’s shooting should be given the death penalty.