An anti-semite who made his feelings known on social media burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue this morning, yelling “All Jews must die” — and killed 11 people, leaving eleven wounded, including police officers and the arrested gunman. This was the worst massacre of Jews in United States history.
A local news report:

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Eleven people have been killed and a number of others injured after a shooting at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday.

Police sources tell KDKA’s Andy Sheehan the gunman, 48-year-old Robert Bowers, walked into the building and yelled, “All Jews must die.” Sheehan’s sources also confirmed that eleven people have died. No children are among the deceased.

Bowers was reportedly armed with an AR-15 and three handguns.

The initial call to 911 was made around 9:54 a.m. and officers were dispatched to the scene within a minute.

When officers arrived, the gunman reportedly shot at them, forcing officers to use their vehicles as a shield. Bowers was said to be exiting the building when he encountered a uniformed officer and went back inside. Eventually, he was pinned down on the third floor and apprehended.

The Washington Post:

A gunman killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue during Saturday-morning services in what the Anti-Defamation League called “likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.”

Law enforcement officials said Robert D. Bowers — a 46-year-old man with a history of making virulently anti-Semitic statements online — was taken into custody after a gun battle with police and is expected to face federal hate crime charges.

“Justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe,” said Scott W. Brady, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Brady said Bowers could be charged sometime Saturday for what he called a “terrible and unspeakable act of hate.”

Authorities described a rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue, the city’s oldest Jewish congregation, that was stunning in its savagery.

“This is the most horrific crime scene I’ve seen in 22 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” said Robert Allan Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office. “Members 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.”

All 11 people killed were adults, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said. Six people were also wounded, four of them police officers responding to the gunfire, he said. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto told CNN the names of victims killed would be released Sunday morning.

Witnesses told police Bowers burst into the synagogue shouting anti-Semitic statements and began firing. Authorities said he was inside the synagogue for about 20 minutes. Hissrich said officials began receiving calls about an active shooter at the synagogue at 9:54 a.m. and officers were dispatched one minute later.

Jones said that Bowers, armed with an assault-style rifle and three handguns, entered the synagogue, gunned down 11 people and was leaving when he encountered responding officers. He fired at an officer who was wounded and then went back into the synagogue to hide, Jones said. More officers responded, and after an exchange of gunfire, Bowers was taken to a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said.

And Bowers had a history, according to NBC News:

Robert Bowers, the Pennsylvania man accused of a fatal shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, posted prolifically online about conspiracy theories and made repeated threats to Jews.

Bowers frequently wrote on the social network Gab, where he made a specific threat against Jews hours before allegedly conducting Saturday’s attack.

In the post, Bowers said that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a humanitarian aid nonprofit group that provides assistance to refugees, brought immigrants to the United States to do violence against others.

“Screw your optics, I’m going in,” he wrote.

Bowers frequently posted about the “migrant caravan,” a group of several thousand refugees walking to the U.S.-Mexico border from Honduras to seek asylum. Preventing refugees in the caravan from entering the U.S. has been a major talking point among both right-wing commentators and President Donald Trump, who has spoken about it in recent pre-midterm election stump speeches.

Bowers’ anti-Semitic posts and his apparent disdain for the caravan are tied to a viral image that appears to show refugees hopping onto the bed of a truck that had a Star of David visible on the side. The image has been widely shared on far-right forums like 4chan and the Russian propaganda operation USA Really. He reposted a screenshot of a video of the caravan that that aired on Fox News, as well as other networks, that does not mention the symbol.

Bowers frequently reposted conspiracy theories about the image of the truck and reposted comments about it from other Gab users.

That anti-Semitic conspiracy theories posited by the users that Bowers later reposted are still viewable on Gab.

Bowers also reposted a user who imploring others to be forewarned of a “false flag” attack before the midterm elections — a false claim repeated by far-right and some mainstream conservatives this week about the 14 explosive devices sent to prominent Trump critics.

Bowers appeared disillusioned with Trump for not sharing Bowers’ anti-Semitic and extremist views. Days after Trump declared himself a nationalist at a campaign event, Bowers claimed that Trump was a “globalist” and not a nationalist.

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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