On Saturday morning a shooter opened fire during service at Pittsburgh synagogue. The shooting intended to kill Jews left eleven people dead and six injured.
A neo-Nazi gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s, in Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood and shot fire at everyone he could find.
As a result of shooting, eleven people were killed. 46-year old gunman named Robert D. Bowers was armed with an AR-15 style assault rifle and three handguns.According to police, he put every gun he had during the attack.
Apparently, he spotted the synagogue to attack the Dor Hadash, a Reconstructionist congregation. The later rented the space lot in the building and was a partner with a Jewish aid organization, which is helping refugees.
Before the attack, Robert Bowers published several posts about HIAS on the Gab social network. In his posts, he ascribed to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews are financially supporting immigration to Uthe .S. He mentioned Honduran migrants, which President Trump and his allies are using to spark the immigration dispute and motivate Trump’s base in prior to the upcoming midterm elections.
The shooting took place during the weekly Shabbat services. While some people tried to run, others preferred to hide from the shooter.
According to witnesses, about 30 shots were fired. The first 911 call came within 4 minutes after the attack started.
The first police officer arrived at the church about 10 minutes later, at around 10 a.m. They met face to face with the gunman who had an automatic weapon. Two police officers exchanged fire. One officer got shot in his hand, the other got wounded from broken glass.
Almost 40 minutes later a SWAT Team arrived at the building and managed to save two elder injured victims.
After fighting with the shooter for an hour and 20 minutes, finally he gave in and he was taken into a custody.
Bowers said repeatedly he wanted to kill Jews, since they committed a genocide to his people.