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PITTSBURGH – Grieving residents of Pittsburgh prepare for the first of many funerals Tuesday, as well as a visit from President Trump, who plans to meet members of the Jewish community here despite the Mayor's request to postpone the trip after his family's visits Bury those who were killed in Saturday's Saturday shootings
The man accused of the bombing – the deadliest among the Jews in American history, with 11 dead – first appeared in court on Monday, two days after the mbadacre. Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old truck driver, was using a wheelchair because of injuries he sustained during a shootout with police at Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. During his arrest, he reportedly told the authorities that he was trying to kill Jews.
Judge Robert C. Mitchell read the charges against him, inter alia, for obstructing the exercise of the religious conviction that led to his death. Bowers, wearing a blue sweatshirt and gray sweatpants, seemed consistent and alert. He said little, answering "yes" when the judge asked him if he had asked for a public defender because he could not afford a lawyer. He was detained without bail.
It did not appear that Bowers had friends or family members present at the courthouse. The Office of the Federal Public Defender did not respond to requests for comment on the case.
Jon Pushinsky, 64, a member of one of the congregations gathered at Tree of Life, attended the meeting. "It was important to be here to show that our congregation remains strong and that it will stand up even in the face of evil," said Pushinsky.
[The lives lost in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting]
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced on Monday that Trump and first lady Melania Trump plan to travel to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to "express the support of the American people and mourn with the community." of Pittsburgh ".
Mayor William Peduto (D) told reporters that the president had to wait, citing safety and sensitivity considerations for those who are suffering.
"If the president plans to come to Pittsburgh, I would ask him not to do it while we bury the dead," said Peduto, pointing out that the city did not have enough public security officers to ensure funeral protection while focusing on a presidential visit.
The first funeral – of two brothers, Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54, who had been going to the Tree of Life synagogue since their earliest years – is expected to take place on Tuesday. Peduto asked the White House to take into account "the will of families" before deciding to visit them and contact them to find out "if they want the president to be here".
Leaders of Pittsburgh-affiliated Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish organization, issued an open letter stating that Trump would not be welcome if he did not denounce white nationalism and stopped "aiming" minorities in his speeches and policies. The letter has been signed by tens of thousands of people across the country.
"In the past three years, your words and policies have encouraged a growing white nationalist movement," the letter said. "You yourself have qualified the killer for evil, but the violence of yesterday is the direct climax of your influence."
[As worship began, a gunman brought evil to a Pittsburgh sanctuary]
The White House noted that Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the synagogue attack, said he would be honored to meet any American president. Myers told Washington Post on Monday that if Trump were coming to Pittsburgh, "I welcome him as an American. He is the president. "
"Hate is not political. It's neither blue nor red, it's neither a man nor a woman, it knows none of these divisions, "Myers said. "The rhetoric of hate in our country is a real problem. I have seen examples in the past 24 hours. I chose to take the path polite and respectful. . . . Hate is omnipresent around us and people do not know it. The hateful letters and e-mails about the president are just a renewed reminder of the division and pain in this regard. "
White House officials said Monday earlier that they were urging the president to cancel a possible speech on immigration Tuesday and to travel to Pittsburgh. The president, who is organizing four "Make America Great Again" rallies this week, is calling for a return to the campaign path, they said.
Trump's critics said that his inflammatory rhetoric had contributed to the rise of extremism and could be perceived by the radicals as a green light for violence. Last week, Cesar Sayoc, a fervent supporter of Trump in South Florida, was accused of sending more than a dozen homemade bombs to people and organizations criticized by Trump.
But on Monday, Trump blamed the media – which he once again described in a tweet as "the real enemy of the people" – the divisions of American society. Sanders echoed this during a tough scrum at the White House.
"The president is not responsible for these acts," Sanders said, referring to both the Pittsburgh mbadacre and the homemade bombs.
"The very first action of the president was to condemn these heinous acts. The very first thing the media did was to condemn the president, "she said. She scolded the White House correspondents: "You have a huge responsibility to play in the dividing nature of this country."
[‘He is not welcome here’: Thousands support Pittsburgh Jewish leaders calling on Trump to ‘denounce white nationalism’]
Senator Chris Murphy (Conn.) Went on Twitter to express his dismay at Trump's latest media attack: "It is, for all intents and purposes, a call for more violence against the press. My god … what's going on ???
In Pittsburgh, the community is trying to heal itself. The city has been the scene of vigils every day.
"We find strength one in the other," said Pennsylvania's Attorney General, Josh Shapiro (D), in an interview. "This gunman tried to kill as many Jews as possible. . . . We will go through that. And I hope that this sense of community that we all share today can be channeled on all of us by doing our part to eradicate hate. "
The congregations in Saturday synagogue were those who arrived often early, many of whom were elderly people who regularly attended weekly services. The services were about to start when the faithful in a second-floor sanctuary heard loud noises coming from below, which they mistook for a falling furniture or perhaps an overturned coat rack.
E. Joseph Charny, 90, said in an interview that while people were settling into the room, a man appeared on the doorstep and started firing. Charny said that he "looked up and that there were all these corpses."
Myers helped clear the front benches, guiding the faithful towards issues or hiding places; Charny ended up in a closet on the third floor, where he waited for the shooting.
[A Holocaust survivor was booked to speak in Pittsburgh. A mbadacre wouldn’t stop her.]
The police arrived and confronted Bowers while he was trying to get out of the building. Two policemen were injured. The authorities said that Bowers had withdrawn to the building and to the upper floor, where he had engaged in a battle with SWAT officers and had finally been shot and arrested.
Investigators from the city and beyond looked into Bowers' life, examining his actions and his online messages leading to the attack. People who met him in person described him as a bbad loner who gave no indication of the rage and fanaticism that he regularly expressed online. He was in the 1990 clbad at Baldwin High School, but he left school in 1989, according to the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. Two clbadmates told the Washington Post they did not remember him.
"He must have been a real loner or something," said clbadmate John Korpiel of Wexford, Pennsylvania.
Scott Brady, the US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, has begun the process of applying for the death penalty in the case, a decision that falls to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. After the hearing, Brady told reporters, "Rest badured, we have a team of prosecutors working hard to get justice done."
[Perspective: The most visceral moments of my life revolve around this Pittsburgh synagogue. Now it’s a scene of horror for Jewish Americans.]
The investigators searched Bowers' small apartment, just outside Pittsburgh, for clues as to the origins of his alleged anti-Semitism. They also searched his online presence, which included anti-Jewish statements.
Rep. Mike Doyle, a Democrat representing the Pittsburgh area, said Bob Jones, the FBI's special agent, told executives elected on Saturday night that Bowers owned 21 guns. The count included the semi-automatic badault rifle and three handguns found in the synagogue, as well as a shotgun that Doyle reportedly found to have been found by the Bowers vehicle authorities. Other weapons were found in his apartment.
Doyle said that he had been told that Trump would be going to a 911 call center Tuesday morning in Pittsburgh. He added that synagogue leaders should be able to decide whether it is appropriate for the president to participate in the commemoration of the victims.
"It should be up to the rabbis and families, whether or not they want to be visited by the president," Doyle said. "I do not think it's up to me to say if that's okay. Tomorrow it will be a very difficult day for Pittsburgh to say goodbye to the 11 people who were slaughtered by this individual. "
[An attack on a tight-knit Jewish community has left it shellshocked]
Berman and Achenbach were reported from Washington. Kayla Epstein in Pittsburgh and Alice Crites, Julie Tate, Deanna Paul, Annie Gowen, Avi Selk, Amy B. Wang, Felicia Sonmez, Sari Horwitz and Aaron C. Davis in Washington contributed to the writing of this report.
Read more:
"I looked up and all these corpses were found": a witness tells the horror of the synagogue mbadacre
Trump says he'll be going to Pittsburgh after a murderous shootout in the synagogue
How Gab became a sanctuary of white supremacy before being linked to the Pittsburgh suspect
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