Synagogue survivor tells of terror

A survivor of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre described how he and other terrorised worshippers hid in a supply closet as the gunman stepped over the body of a man he had just killed, entered their darkened spot and looked around.

“I can’t say anything, and I’m barely breathing,” recalled Barry Werber, 76. “He didn’t see us, thank God.”

The gunman, Robert Gregory Bowers, opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons during worship services inside Tree of Life Synagogue, killing eight men and three women before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him, according to state and federal affidavits. He later told police that “all these Jews need to die”, and “I just want to kill Jews”.

Six people were injured in the attack, including four officers.

Bowers targeted a building that housed three separate congregations in Squirrel Hill, the hub of the city’s Jewish community.

Officials released the names of all 11 of the dead, all of them middle-aged or elderly. The victims included intellectually disabled brothers and a husband and wife. The youngest was 54, and the oldest was 97.

Bowers shot his victims with an AR15 and three handguns which he had a license to carry.

Federal prosecutors intend to pursue the death penalty.

Bowers was a long-haul trucker who worked for himself. Little else was known about the suspect, who had no apparent criminal record but who is believed to have expressed virulently anti-Semitic views on social media.

Four members of the congregation were in the basement when they heard crashing sounds, looked out the door and saw a body on the staircase, Werber recalled.

He said Rabbi Jonathan Perlman closed the door and pushed them into a supply closet. As gunshots echoed upstairs, Werber called emergency services but was afraid to say anything, for fear of making any noise. When the shots subsided, member Melvin Wax opened the door, only to be shot and fall back inside. “There were three shots. The gunman walks in.” Apparently unable to see the others in the dark, Bowers walked back out.