A heavily armed gunman opened fire during a baby-naming ceremony at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh on Saturday, killing 11 people and injuring six in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in recent American history.
The shooter — identified as a 46-year-old local resident named Robert Bowers — reportedly yelled “All Jews must die” as he burst into the Tree of Life synagogue, where dozens of congregants were gathered in the morning for Sabbath services.
Taken into custody after a firefight with police, the suspect was transferred to hospital and is to face hate crime and other federal charges that can carry the death penalty.
Striking an unusually somber tone, President Donald Trump denounced “a wicked act of mass murder,” while his daughter Ivanka, a convert to Judaism, declared: “America is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-Semite.”
“This evil Anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us,” Trump told supporters at an election rally in Illinois where he began by addressing the attack at length — drawing loud cheers as he vowed to fully enforce the death penalty for such crimes.
“We must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters to defeat anti-Semitism and vanquish the forces of hate.”
Stephen Weiss, a 60-year-old member of the congregation, described hearing dozens of shots coming from the synagogue’s front lobby.
“We had services going on in the chapel when we heard a loud noise,” he told the Tribune-Review newspaper. “I recognized it as gunshots.”
Authorities said Bowers was armed with an assault rifle and at least three handguns when he launched his attack shortly before 10:00 am (1400 GMT) — leaving a scene described as “horrific” by Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh’s public safety director.
