Pittsburgh synagogue shootings: 11 dead and suspect placed in police custody | American News

Eleven people were killed and six injured during a shootings in a synagogue in Squirrel Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh on Saturday, said a city official.

In a statement in Indianapolis, Donald Trump called for the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. "An act of mbad murder" and decried anti-Semitism in all its forms. The FBI was investigating the shooting as a federal hate crime.

The identity of the dead was not immediately revealed, but Wendell Hissrich, Public Security Director of Pittsburgh, said at a press conference that no child had been killed. The suspect did not count the suspect, he said.

The shooter was identified as Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old Pittsburgh resident. He was taken to the hospital in the city, police said

. The suspect seemed to have far right views. Immediately after the shooting, local affiliate CBS KDJA reported that the suspect was a "white man [with] beard" and stated that "he walked on shouting" All Jews must die ". social media in the name of Robert Bowers contained antisemitic remarks.

"Today, the nightmare has fallen on us here in the city of Pittsburgh," said Hissrich.

dispatched a minute later. Hissrich stated that two officers were shot and wounded upon their arrival at the synagogue.

Bob Jones, FBI special agent, said the suspect was leaving the synagogue while he was engaged by the officers after shooting inside. He then retired to the building, where two police officers were wounded before handing over the suspect.

Jones stated that the suspect had an badault rifle and three handguns. He could not confirm that all were used. Mr. Jones stated that Bowers was not previously known to law enforcement.

Dr. Dan Yealy, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, did not disclose the identity of the injured, but described in detail the injuries sustained. The two non-wounded officers were a 61-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man, he said. The latter victim was in critical condition and underwent a second operation after being shot in the chest. The four officers all stayed at the hospital.

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As the shooting spread on Saturday morning, KDKA reported "an exchange of fire between the police and the suspect on the third floor." The gunman was wounded and went after negotiations, the station said.

Jeff Finkelstein, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told reporters that just over half of the Jewish community in the greater Pittsburgh area lived in and around the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Michael Eisenberg, a former president of the Tree of Life synagogue, said that there were three services in the main building, with 30 to 40 people in two larger departments and about 15 in a smaller one. One of the services consisted of a broken circumcision ceremony.

"We have never had any threats," said Eisenberg, adding that the synagogue had nonetheless consulted the Department of Homeland Security and other synagogues about the precautions to be taken.

Trump leaves Washington for a speech and a political rally. At the Andrews Common Base in Maryland, he expressed sympathy for the victims of the event that was taking place in Pennsylvania. Asked about the need to amend the gun laws to prevent such incidents, the president said: "If they had benefited from protection, the results would have been much better. If they had had some sort of protection inside the temple, maybe the situation would have been a lot different. "

Trump also stated that the people who carried out large-scale shootings were" wackos "and that he thought the death penalty should be applied" in vogue ".

" Frankly it's a terrible thing, what happens with hatred in our country, "said the president, and all over the world, and something must be done."

Trump spoke the day after a declared supporter of his policy was arrested in Florida and charged with pipe pipe sent to prominent Democrats and critics of the president's policy.

At an event organized by Future Farmers of America in Indianapolis, Trump strongly condemned the shooting as an anti-Semitic, an "act of pure evil" and "a perverse act of mbad murder" . The president had organized a campaign rally in southern Illinois on Saturday night.

On the international scene, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his sympathy as his diaspora minister, Naftali Bennett, tweeted that he "was going to Pittsburgh to be with we, sisters and brothers at the darkest hour. "

Trump's remarks fueled the debate as to whether the shooting could have been prevented. The governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, called the shooting "absolute tragedy" and added, "We say [this one is too many] for too long. Dangerous weapons put our citizens at risk. And in the aftermath of this tragedy, we must unite and act to prevent these tragedies in the future. We can not accept this violence as normal.

On the scene Saturday morning, light rain fell as police officers cordoned off the area. Chuck Diamond stood at the corner of Murray Street and Northumberland Avenue, wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates hat, doing his best to comfort the shocked and mourning people. Until a year ago, he was the rabbi of Tree of Life.

"We were lucky," he said. "It was the beginning of the services and the Jews always arrive late."

Locally, the epithet "Jew of Squirrel Hill" has long been used to describe the inhabitants of this welded liberal enclave, a few blocks from Carnegie Mellon University.

"I'm sure everyone in the community feels that it's an attack on them," said Diamond, adding that he feared such an attack for years.

"Some problems need to be solved, like gun control and People have to keep that in mind when they go to the polls in November," he said.

Congressman Mike Doyle, who lives in Forest Hills, said, "It's horrible, I know people who go to church there, one of my employees went there. Bride and her parents go in. It numbs you, that's all. "

In 2016, the Democrat helped organize a sit-in in the House, calling for a law on gun control. know, you've upset spirits and hated hearts and guns, and that's what's going on and Congress is not doing anything. "

A resident of Squirrel Hill, a German student who n & # 39; 39, not wanted to be named, said it was "the second time I'm near the place of a mbad shot." The student stated that she had already lived near the shot in 2014 in Isla Vista, California, during which six people died.