Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
antisemitic mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 27, 2018
On October 27, 2018, an antisemitic mass shooting occurred at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The congregation, along with New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash, which also worshiped in the building, was attacked during Shabbat morning services. The perpetrator, 46-year-old Robert Gregory Bowers, killed eleven people and wounded six, in the deadliest attack on a local Jewish community in American history.
After being shot multiple times by police, Bowers was arrested at the scene. Bowers had earlier posted antisemitic comments against HIAS (formerly, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) on the online alt-tech social network Gab. Dor Hadash had participated in HIAS's National Refugee Shabbat the previous week. Referring to Central American migrant caravans and immigrants, Bowers posted a message on Gab in which he wrote that "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in." He was charged with 63 federal crimes, some of them capital crimes. Bowers pleaded not guilty.
The public source identifies “Pittsburgh synagogue shooting” as antisemitic mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 27, 2018. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pittsburgh, synagogue and shooting.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pittsburgh synagogue shooting” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.