Details emerge about Dayton shooter
Peduto offers his counsel to Dayton peer
As word of the mass shooting in Dayton spread early Sunday morning, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto made himself a cup of coffee, sat down and called his friend, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
The Oct. 27 attack in Pittsburgh weighed heavily on his mind. When Ms. Whaley picked up, Mr. Peduto passed on some advice he’d received after 11 people were shot to death at Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.
Mr. Peduto recounted the exchange Monday during a groundbreaking for a Light of Life facility on the North Side. He also discussed some of the changes to his security detail prompted by death threats directed at him over city gun restrictions passed in the wake of the synagogue shooting.
“It was just the basics, about being very transparent, being able to take care, first and foremost, [ of] the victims’ families and their friends, then taking care of the wounded and then taking care of the larger community,” he said of his conversation with Ms. Whaley. “And last night, as it became close to 8 o’clock, and knowing their community was going to gather, it really brought me back to that [ community memorial event for the victims] at Soldiers & Sailors and how I was feeling, not knowing what to say and what to do.”
He told Ms. Whaley to be a voice for her community, before anything else. The mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, have made fresh the pain of the Tree of Life attack for many in Pittsburgh, Mr. Peduto said.
“Trauma brings back trauma,” he said. “And I know there are a lot of Pittsburghers right now that are reliving Tree of Life, and I’d just remind them to take a breath and realize, although we live in this time when this is common, there are still things we can do to lessen the impact and hopefully minimize the carnage.”
The city has taken pains with its event planning to consider ways to prevent a mass casualty attack, Mr. Peduto said, including moving the city’s special events office out of the Parks and Recreation Department and into the Public Safety Department. A team of public safety professionals reviews each event and identifies the best safety measures, such as using large trucks as barricades or planning where to station officers, he added.
On a personal level, Mr. Peduto beefed up his own security detail months ago — extending their hours into the evening — in light of threats of violence that began as he pushed gun control legislation.
“There have been direct death threats that come to the office, particularly around this issue,” Mr. Peduto said, adding that recently some people have come up to him wanting to fight. Both he and at least one council member have acknowledged receiving death threats since before the legislation was signed in April.
In a July 27 tweet, one Twitter user called on someone to “Please shoot [ Peduto] with bullets meant for him like the [ expletive] bikelanes or the draconian gun laws that are against state laws.” The tweet later continued, “Aim dude, AIM!”
Mr. Peduto said he forwards the threats to Pittsburgh police — they said Monday they were aware of the tweet but would not comment further. Mr. Peduto said he endeavors to keep on doing his job as mayor despite the threats.
“You don’t think about it, to be honest,” he said, adding later, “You do your job. You get up in the morning, go to work, do the best that you can to stand for what you believe in.”
Part of that work, Mr. Peduto said Monday, was to contest the legal challenges to Pittsburgh’s new gun laws all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
“If we do this in city after city, we’ll make the water warmer to make the big changes that are needed,” he said.
Also on Monday, the three congregations that were targeted in the Tree of Life synagogue massacre issued a statement of solidarity with victims and survivors of the weekend’s mass murders.
“All of us feel the pain and loss of loved ones in the senseless murders of innocent people across the nation,” the joint statement said. “We are heartbroken, again, by this weekend’s tragedies in El Paso and Dayton. It was approximately nine months ago that our community was targeted and affected forever by a hate crime. ”
The statement was issued by Tree of Life / Or L’Simcha, New Light and Dor Hadash, three congregations that shared the Tree of Life synagogue building.