Shots in Pittsburgh Synagogue: Authorities Name Eleven People Killed in Shooting at Pittsburgh Synagogue



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Authorities named the 11 people killed Saturday when a gunman with three pistols and a semi-automatic badault rifle attacked a synagogue in Pittsburgh – the attack on more deadly against Jews in the history of the United States.

a 97-year-old woman, a husband and wife, and two brothers, all of whom attended services in the Tree of Life synagogue when Robert Bowers broke into an open door, shouting Antisemitic insults and shots. The 46-year-old Pittsburgh resident is also charged with injuring six others, including three police officers shot dead during a fight, and faces numerous allegations of aggression. , homicide and hate crime.

"They commit genocide against me. people, "said the suspect to a SWAT officer after being shot and captured, according to a federal criminal complaint released Sunday." I just want to kill Jews. "

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto called the killing "Attacking" darkest day in the history of Pittsburgh "after reading the names of the victims on Sunday morning.The mayor also challenged President Trump's suggestion that the synagogue should have had armed guards.

"We will not try to rationalize irrational behavior," Peduto told reporters, "We will work to eradicate it, and we will strive to eradicate it from our city, our country, and our country. Hatred will have its place nowhere. "

The collective shootout targeted a congregation that is an anchor of the large Jewish community of Pittsburgh, a mbadacre that the authorities immediately described as e hate crime for investigating the suspect's ancient history. Semitic Online Chapes

The FBI stated that Bowers was not known to the forces of order. He was charged with 29 counts of federal crimes of violence and gun-related offenses, federal prosecutors announced last Saturday.

A man named Bowers had published antisemitic statements on social media before the murder, expressing his anger at a Jewish non-profit organization the district helped refugees settle in the United States. In what appeared to be his last social media just hours before the attack, the man wrote, "I can not sit and watch my people get slaughtered. I'll go.

Bowers reportedly broke into regular synagogue service on Saturday at 9:45 am with an AR-15 rifle and three handguns, the authorities said. Witnesses told police that he had shouted anti-Semitic statements and started shooting. The synagogue, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, had no armed security guards.

[An attack on a tight-knit Jewish community has left it shellshocked]

Police received calls regarding an active shooter at 9:54 and dispatched agents one minute later. Police said Bowers had left the building and met with the respondent's police officers, firing one before hiding in the synagogue.

Police pursued Bowers on the third floor of the synagogue, according to a criminal complaint. He allegedly opened fire by firing several police officers several times and wounded one deeply before being wounded in a shooting and being captured.

According to the complaint, while he was in detention, Bowers had told a SWAT operator "that he wanted all Jews to die and also that they (Jews) are committing a genocide against his people. "

Bodies are lying throughout the synagogue – three women and eight men are killed and two others wounded.

Four Policemen Officers were injured during the intervention – three bullets and one by one burst of shrapnel – and were in a stable state on Saturday night. Saturday night, it was not clear whether Bowers was talking to the authorities or had a lawyer.


Tammy Hepps, left to right, Kate Rothstein, and daughter Simone Rothstein, both of Squirrel Hill, read a religious text and embrace at a crossroads. Shady Avenue and Northumberland Street after several people were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. (Alexandra Wimley / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

Federal prosecutors filed 29 charges against Bowers, accusing him of federal crimes against the civil person. Bowers was charged with interfering with the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, having used a gun to commit murder during a crime of violence, obstructing the person's life. Exercise of religious beliefs that caused injury to a public security officer and the use of a firearm during a violent crime.

The charges were announced in a statement issued by Scott W. Brady, US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and Robert Jones, Special Agent for the FBI Pittsburgh Office. Court documents were not available immediately and were to be released Sunday morning.

The Pittsburgh mbadacre is another example of homicidal fury and fanaticism on the margins of American society. It combines elements of many other active shooter incidents that have horrified Americans in recent years and has highlighted the unusual frequency of events involving many victims in this country compared to almost every other country in the world.

a man armed with a semi-automatic badault weapon – like, for example, the shooter who killed 49 people in Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016. Once again, the crime scene was a house of worship, a clbadic target [ sweet target, "As was the case for the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where an armed man worried in the hope of killing his beautiful Mother mbadacred 26 people during a Sunday ceremony last November.

And again, the victims belonged to an ethnic group. or a religious minority with a long history of persecution – like the nine African American faithful killed three years ago when a white supremacist invaded a Bible study session at the same time. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Chu rch in Charleston, SC

"This was the most deadly and violent attack on the Jewish community in the country's history," said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. "We have never had an attack of such depravity where so many people have been killed … When you go to a synagogue, saying," I want to kill all the Jews, "that's Is a hate crime. "


Possible entries from The Tree of Life synagogue where several people were killed and others injured during a deadly shootout on Saturday in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. (Alexandra Wimley / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

Political, religious and civic leaders condemned the Saturday mbadacre and pledged to support the Jewish community.

"We simply can not accept this violence as a normal part of American life" Pennsylvania's Governor, Tom Wolf (D), said at an afternoon press conference, trembling voice. "These senseless acts of violence are not what we are as Pennsylvanians, they are not what we are as Americans."

[ A community gathered to mourn the victims of the shooting in the synagogue]

President Trump denounced the mbadacre and said something must be done about such crimes, suggesting recourse more frequent and faster to the death penalty, saying that it must "put it in fashion."

"It's a terrible thing, it's what's happening with hate in our society. Trump said before boarding Air Force One on Saturday afternoon for a flight to Indianapolis. At a protest in Murphysboro, Illinois, later in the day, the president denounced anti-Semitism at full throats: "This devilish anti-Semitic attack is an badault on all of us. It is an badault against humanity. We will all have to work together to extract from our world the heinous poison of anti-Semitism.

He stated that the mbadacre could have been prevented if the synagogue had put security guards in place. Trump has often suggested that more armed people could deter mbad shootings, making such comments after the shootings in Parkland, Florida and Orlando in recent years. Members of the armed forces were actually present during the two shootings.

Trump ordered the flags to be half-masted on public land until sunset Wednesday, in a "solemn respect" for the victims, said the White House in a statement.


People stand on the stairs of the Sixth Presbyterian Church as the crowd rushes down the hill and down the street for a vigil from which an active gunman fired several people at the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday. in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. (Stephanie Strasburg / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

The Anti-Defamation League, created over a century ago, documented numerous deadly attacks against Jews in the United States, such as the Assault of a white supremacist against the United States. Holocaust Museum in 2009 that killed a security guard. The previous deadliest antisemitic attack, said the ADL, was actually a case of mistaken religious identity causing four deaths. That's what happened in 1985 when a racist attacker attacked Charles Goldmark and his family in Seattle, thinking that they were Jewish.

The ADL said Saturday that antisemitic incidents had increased by 57% in 2017, with 1,986 events documented, a peak attributed to the league.

Carl Chinn, chairman of the non-profit network Faith-Based Security Network, said Saturday's mbadacre was the fifteenth mbad murder – defined as four or more deaths – in a place of worship in the city. history of the United States. The first was the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963, which killed four African-American girls, he said.

On Saturday, members of the Tree of Life synagogue gathered at an informal mourning center nearby to learn about the fate of loved ones. On social media, synagogue members quickly relayed information about people in safety. But there would be 11 names – all adults – missing at registration.

[ An alleged gunman allegedly wounded by shooting in the synagogue against Jews and refugees online]

Arnold Freedman, a 91 year old synagogue member, psychologist, had planned to He went to Tree of Life at 10:00, but stayed at home because a repairman was working in his basement. He started receiving calls from friends right from the start of the shootout.

"Our climate in the country is currently very disturbed. You see these hate crimes, and no matter who, right or left, will blame others. It's terrible, "said Freedman. "Unfortunately, there are too many people like that and they have too much access to guns."


A boy holds a sign at the intersection of Murray Ave. and Forbes Ave. in the section of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh during a memorial vigil in the honor of the victims of the deadly shooting that took place at the synagogue of the Tree of Life on Saturday. (Gene J. Puskar / AP)

Chuck Diamond, who grew up in Squirrel Hill and was rabbi for seven years at Tree of Life, said that he had always feared a day like this.

Regarding the congregation, I always had in mind that something like this would happen, "said Diamond. "It's a terrible thing to feel. When you enter our sanctuary, you want it to be a place where you feel safe.

The news spreads, the time the shooting spreads, the police close the congregation of Rodef Shalom nearby. The police also visited synagogues in Washington, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to enhance security.

"Our congregation could just as easily have been," Rabbi Aaron Bisno of Rodef Shalom said. "We do not know what motivated the shooter, but when something like that strikes, its terrifying character is terrifying."

The Tree of Life building houses three synagogues and has several communities worshiping at the same time, said Bisno, calling it "The center of Jewish life on the morning of Shabbat".

In recent years, Pittsburgh has enlisted a former FBI agent to act as a security officer, according to Bisno. His congregation has recently been trained as an active shooter. Saturday was the first time the community needed to put it into practice.

"It's scary," he said. "This can happen anywhere and anytime."

[ For American Jews, the Pittsburgh Synagogue Mbadacre is the culmination of the worst fears]

The FBI said Saturday that the authorities believed Bowers was acting alone. Authorities who entered the crime scene described it as breathtaking in its savagery.

"It's the most horrible crime scene I've seen for 22 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation," said Jones, the FBI's special agent.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions described the shooting as "reprehensible and totally contrary to the values ​​of this nation" and stated that the Department of Justice will bring to justice the crime of hate and other charges "that could result in the death penalty".

"The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity," said Brady, the US Attorney General for the Western District of Pennsylvania. "In this case, the justice will be swift and severe."

The Pittsburgh attack took place a few days after the arrest of a Florida man who allegedly sent more money. a dozen homemade bombs to prominent critics of Trump, and in the midst of a feverish midst. election campaigns are raging with offensive advertising. Several leaders have said that the country's political rhetoric has become too polarizing, perhaps inspiring recent violence.

Gab, a social media platform that has attracted many far-right users, said Saturday that the company had suspended an account that matches that of the alleged gunman. name, transmitting the messages to the FBI. The story included repeated attacks on Jews, references to white and neo-Nazi supremacist symbols, and attacks on the Hbrew Immigrant Aid Society, known as HIAS, which works with the federal government to resettle refugees in American communities. .


Jewish community gather for a candlelight vigil in memory of those who died earlier in the day during a shootout at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, in front of the White House in Washington, DC, October 27, 2018. – On October 27, a heavily armed armed man opened fire at a baptismal ceremony in the Pittsburgh City Synagogue, killing 11 people and by wounding six others in the most deadly antisemitic attack in recent American history. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP / Getty Images

HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield said his agency had witnessed a lot of hatred and was actively working to help people who were fleeing. hurry.

"But the United States is supposed to be a place of refuge and a synagogue is supposed to be a place of refuge," Hetfield said.

Tom Malinowski, Democratic candidate for the New Jersey Congress, served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Workers in the Obama Administration, published on its website a statement stating that the disturbed people still existed, but that the political climate had changed.

"Our highest national leaders legitimize a rhetoric once confined to the paranoid extremes of our society – against the" globalists ", all of whom are prominent Jews, complaining of" white genocide ", attacking immigrants to "threaten our and spread conspiracy theories about the wolf pots to advocate for the imprisonment of their political opponents," said Malinowski, who has long headed the Human Rights Watch office in Washington. "These words are like sparks" in the essence of disturbed minds.These words can kill. "

The recent series of mbad shootings prompted Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life to write on the synagogue's blog, deploring the lack of 39, national action to combat armed violence following the shooting of the Parkland School

] "Unless there is a dramatic reversal of the midterm elections, I fear that the status quo is not changed and school shootings do not resume, "wrote Myers. "I should not be forced to include in my daily morning prayers that God watches over and protects my wife and wife, the two teachers. Where are our leaders?

reported Kellie B. Gormly in Pittsburgh. Amy B Wang, Deanna Paul, Devlin Barrett, Wesley Lowery, Abby Ohlheiser, Kristine Phillips, Mike Rosenwald and Katie Zezima contributed to this story in development.

For more information:

An alleged shooter from the synagogue seems to have been rushed against Jews and refugees. online

Trump says he will visit Pittsburgh after a murderous shootout at the synagogue

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