11 dead in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting; suspect hinted at anti-Jewish attack 17 days ago on social media
President Trump and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf comment on the deadly Pittsburgh synagogue attack.
A man with a history of posting anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant social media messages burst into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire on Saturday morning services that included a baby-naming ceremony, killing 11 people and wounding six more, authorities said.
The shooting, which began shortly before 10 a.m., was probably âthe deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United Statesâ and marks a worrying new peak in violence against Jewish Americans in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which has monitored anti-Semitism in the U.S. for more than a century.
It came just days after a flurry of explosive devices were mailed to prominent Democrats and other critics of President Trump, further ratcheting up a sense of tension in the nation in the closing weeks of an intense midterm election campaign.
Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions said federal prosecutors, who are investigating the killings as a hate crime, could seek the death penalty against the suspected shooter, who is in custody.
The shooting unfolded over 20 minutes at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburghâs placid Squirrel Hill neighborhood, known locally for being the historical hub of the cityâs Jewish community; many residents had decorated their lawns in preparation for Halloween.
The gunman, identified as Robert Bowers, 46, of Pittsburgh, was armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, officials said.
The assailant wounded two of the first officers who arrived at the scene as he tried to leave, and later wounded two SWAT officers inside the synagogue before he was shot and taken into custody, officials said.
During negotiations for Bowersâ surrender, an officer at the scene radioed that Bowers was saying that âall these Jews need to die.â
Bowers had a history of making anti-Semitic posts on social media, and he had apparently signaled his plans to attack the synagogue in a post 17 days ago on Gab, a small social media service that is popular with white nationalists.
On Oct. 10, an account bearing Bowersâ name posted a link to the website for HIAS, a refugee agency that was originally founded to assist Jews but that has expanded its work to include aid to refugees from around the world. The link Bowers shared included a list of congregations partnering with HIAS, including Pittsburghâs Dor Hadash congregation â which holds services in the Tree of Life building.
âWe appreciate the list of friends you have provided,â Bowers wrote on Gab.
Saturday morning at 9:49, Bowers published another post: âHIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I canât sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Iâm going in.â
Five minutes later, police received their first 911 call reporting a shooting inside Tree of Life Synagogue.
The suspect remained hospitalized as of Saturday afternoon. He was charged in the evening with 29 counts of violence and firearms violations as rattled public officials vowed swift and severe justice. The charges included 11 counts of âobstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.â
Bob Jones, the FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office, called the shooting âthe most horrific crime scene Iâve seen in 22 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.â
âMembers of the Tree of Life Synagogue conducting a peaceful service in their place of worship were brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith,â he said.
Because the shooting is being treated as a hate crime, the FBI quickly took charge of the investigation, coordinating with local law enforcement, authorities said.
Bowers probably acted alone and had no known criminal record, Jones said.
Law enforcement officials familiar with the case confirmed that they believe the social media posts were made by the shooting suspect.
Bowersâ reference to âopticsâ in the Saturday morning post is a significant one within the small world of white nationalists, signaling that the suspect had a familiarity with the political dynamics of the American white nationalist movement. It alludes to debate among far-right figures over whether to avoid violence or aggression, which often draws negative attention to the movement from the general public.
Mark Hetfield, chief executive of HIAS, said he was âin a state of shockâ to hear that his organization was named by the shooter.
âItâs horrible,â Hetfield said. The refugee resettlement group had organized a ârefugee Shabbatâ event last week at which more than 300 synagogues across the country came together to âcelebrate our tradition of welcoming refugees.â He said it was unclear whether the Pittsburgh synagogue had participated.
âItâs horrible that refugees are fleeing for aid, and the Jewish community is doing so much to embrace them and then this tragedy unfolds.â
HIAS, founded in 1881 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to assist Jews fleeing persecution in Russia, since 2000 has served a broad range of refugees of all faiths from around the world, helping them resettle in the U.S.
President Trump, in his first comment to reporters on the shooting, called for armed guards at synagogues and implied that lax security by the synagogue was at least partially to blame for the high death toll.
âIf they had protection inside, the results would have been far better,â he said. âIf there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop him, maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him, frankly.â
Local officials said they were unaware of any security hired by the synagogue.
Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said local synagogues have done âlots of training on things like active shooters, and weâve looked at hardening facilities as much as possible.â
âThis should not be happening, period,â he told reporters at the scene. âThis should not be happening in a synagogue.â
Trump called the attack an âanti-Semitic actâ that âshocked and stunnedâ the nation and the world.
âIt looks definitely like itâs an anti-Semitic crime. That is something you wouldnât believe could still be going on,â he told reporters when he arrived in Indianapolis for a speech.
Later, reading from a prompter while addressing the Future Farmers of America, Trump said: âToday with one unified voice we condemn the historic evil of anti-Semitism and every other form of evil.â
The president later issued an order calling for the American flag to be flown at half staff at all federal buildings through Oct. 31.
Despite Trumpâs reference to anti-Semitism as something relegated to the past, the ADL reported earlier this year that âanti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. rose 57% in 2017 â the largest single-year increase on record and the second-highest number reported since ADL started tracking such data in 1979.â
Although small by the standards of Los Angeles or New York, the Jewish community in Pittsburgh is one of the nationâs oldest, and Squirrel Hill, a tree-lined residential neighborhood about 10 minutes east of downtown, has been its hub since the 1930s.
About a quarter of the metropolitan regionâs Jewish population, estimated at roughly 50,000, lives in the neighborhood, according to a study released earlier this year by Pittsburghâs Jewish Federation.
The synagogue is a large concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows. Among its treasures is a âHolocaust Torah,â rescued from the former Czechoslovakia, according to its website. Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250, although on a typical Saturday, attendance would be much lower.
Several hours after the shooting, a sharp smell of match strikes wafted over a crowd of several hundred, many holding candles, as they gathered a few blocks from the synagogue for a vigil organized by local high school students.
Christian Nutini, 43, who lives near the synagogue, brought his children. The youngest sat on his shoulders holding a handwritten cardboard sign that said hate and violence are not the answer.
He still didnât know whether he knew anyone who was in the synagogue, but said he spent the day texting friends in the neighborhood.
âAs of right now, I donât know,â Nutini said. But in a tight-knit community like Squirrel Hill, âI guarantee weâll know somebody who knows somebody.â
Jonathan Nadle, 53, of the Beechview neighborhood, said he had gone to donate blood earlier in the day, but so many people had shown up that the clinic had a two-hour wait.
He said heâd go back tomorrow, and attended Saturdayâs vigil instead. âYou want to do something because you feel kind of helpless,â he said.
Stuart Hoffman, 69, of Fox Chapel said he grew up going to the synagogue.
âSquirrel Hill is the beating heart of the Jewish community of Pittsburgh,â he said. âItâs a wound to the heart.â
Earlier in the day, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called the shooting an âabsolute tragedy.â
âWe must all pray and hope for no more loss of life,â Wolf said. âBut we have been saying âthis one is too manyâ for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harmâs way.â
The banner image on the Gab account with Bowersâ name featured the number â1488,â a reference to the â14 wordsâ embraced by white nationalists â commonly known as âwe must secure the existence of our people and a future for white childrenâ â along with 88, which is numerical code for HH, or âHeil Hitler.â
A spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremists, said, however, that the suspect âwas not on our radarâ before the attack.
The shooting is likely to draw attention to Gab, a service that has repeatedly drawn controversy over the last year for its willingness to allow white nationalists and neo-Nazis who have been banned from more mainstream platforms such as Twitter. After the shooting, the payment processing service PayPal cut off its relationship with the social media site.
Gab said in a statement that it was âsaddened and disgusted by the news of violence in Pittsburgh,â and said it has a âzero tolerance policyâ for terrorism and violence on the service.
The service, which has often been criticized for hosting far-right users, also preemptively defended itself from another expected wave of public criticism after the shooting.
âWe refused to be defined by the mediaâs narratives about Gab and our community,â saying the serviceâs mission is âto defend free expression and individual liberty online for all people.â
Gab said it took âproactive actionâ to âimmediatelyâ contact law enforcement, including the FBI, and that âwe are ready and willing to work with law enforcement to see that justice is served.â
Wire reported from Pittsburgh and Pearce from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Jaweed Kaleem in Los Angeles and Jackie Calmes, David G. Savage and Del Quentin Wilber in Washington contributed to this report.
UPDATES:
7:25 p.m.: This article was updated with charges filed and Trump ordering flags to be flown at half-staff.
5:10 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from a vigil in Pittsburgh and additional details on the suspectâs social media posts.
2:50 p.m.: This article was updated with Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions saying prosecutors could seek the death penalty and additional details.
1:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details and a statement from the Anti-Defamation League.
12:15 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details on casualties and an additional statement by President Trump.
11 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting, and comments fom the Pittsburgh public safety director.
9:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from the Pittsburgh mayor and Pennsylvania governor.
8:45 a.m.: This article was updated with the suspect in custody.
This article was originally published at 8:10 a.m.
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