Multiple people dead in shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue: Shooter screamed ‘All Jews must die’ befor
A gunman screaming “All Jews must die!” burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue during Sabbath services, shooting and killing at least eight people and wounding a half-dozen more, including four police officers, before surrendering, NY Post reported.
The conservative Tree of Life Synagogue had been packed with three separate congregations holding Saturday morning services when the bloodbath began at around 10 a.m.
Congregants told MSNBC that a bris, or circumcision ceremony had been in progress.
Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the shooting happened during the portion of the ceremony when the child is given a Hebrew name.
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The “shooter claimed innocent lives — and injured first responders — at a baby naming,” Shapiro said.
The suspect — identified by CBS affiliate KDKA as 46-year-old Robert Bowers, a bearded, heavyset resident of Pittsburgh — was armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and two handguns, according to multiple reports.
The gunfire sent congregants scattering, with many calling police after barricading themselves inside the building, located in the city’s Jewish enclave Squirrel Hill.
Bowers was himself injured and crawling on his hands and knees as he surrendered at around 11 a.m. after a shootout with police. None of the injured officers were likely to die, according to officials.
He surrendered “with a pistol in his waistband and one strapped to his ankle,” tweeted local reporter Ross Guidotti
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“It’s a very horrific crime scene. One of the worst that I’ve seen, and I’ve been on some plane crashes,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters.
“It’s very bad,” he added. He declined to confirm the number of dead. The investigation will be led by the FBI in Philadelphia, he said.
In online posts, Bowers described himself right-wing, but virulently anti-Trump and anti-Semitic.
“Jews are the children of satan. (john 8:44)” he’d written on his bio on Gab, an alt-right version of Twitter on which he called himself “@onedingo.”
Regarding the president, he said: “For the record, I did not vote for him nor have I owned, worn or even touched a maga hat.”
Culled from NY Post