Overview

The 2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting refers to a mass shooting that occurred at the Tree of Life Or L'Simcha synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 27th, 2018. A shooter killed 11 people and wounded six others, including four police officers. Officials charged 46-year-old Robert Bowers with 29 federal criminal counts. It is the largest mass shooting in the United States since the 2017 Las Vegas shooting and is believed to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history.^[1]

Background

On October 27th, 2018, a white male with a beard entered Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Synagogue, a historic Jewish temple located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and opened fire (synagogue pictured below). The shooting took place during three scheduled Shabbat morning services.

Beginning at 9:54 a.m., police received calls from people inside the building describing the attack. At 9:59 a.m., police arrived at the synagogue. At 10:30 a.m. officials entered the synagogue, and at 11:08 a.m., the suspect surrendered to police, telling them "all these Jews need to die" because Jews were "were committing genocide against his people."^[2]

The Tree of Life synagogue, built in 1864, merged with the Or L'Simcha congregation in 2010.

Development

Suspect

Robert Bowers

Local authorities identified the suspect as Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old resident of Baldwin, Pennsylvania (photograph below, left). He was taken into police custody after the shooting and transported to a hospital.

Bowers has been charged with 29 federal criminal counts, including obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs, which is a hate crime, and using a firearm to commit murder. The counts include "11 counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death; 11 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence; four counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer and three counts of use and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence".^[5]

Bowers's Gab social media profile was registered in January 2018 under the handle "onedingo" made numerous references of violence towards Jews and refugees, particularly those at the U.S.-Mexico border. The account's description read, "jews are the children of satan. (John 8:44) - - the lord jesus christ is come in the flesh."

Leading up to the attack, Bowers referenced Jewish refugee advocacy group Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) on Gab, posting a list of Shabbat or sabbath services held on behalf of refugees, which included "a Shabbat address that is less than a mile away from the Tree of Life Synagogue."^[6] Five minutes prior to the police being alerted to the shooting, Bowers posted on Gab 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" (shown below, right).

Online Reaction

The shooting became the subject of various discussions on Reddit. On October 27th, 2018, Redditor^[8] TheMiddleGround777 posted the Vox article "The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting comes amid a years long rise in anti-Semitism" in the /r/politics subreddit. The post received more than 2,500 points (96% upvoted) and 400 comments.

That day, Redditor^[9] NotherDayAnotherDoug posted an image featuring Peter Griffin from the American animated situational comedy Family Guy, satirizing the perception of white terrorists in the United States. The post received more than 6,700 points (92% upvoted) and 290 comments (shown below, left).

The following day, Redditor^[10] gangbangkang posted the "Pittsburgh Steelers tribute to the victims of yesterday's synagogue shooting" in the /r/sports subreddit. The post received more than 58,000 points (86% upvoted) and 1,400 comments (shown below, right).

Gab De-Platforming

Following reports that Bowers had busing the social media website Gab to share antisemitic beliefs, various companies began cutting ties with Gab, including PayPal, who told the Verge^[12] "The company is diligent in performing reviews and taking account actions. When a site is explicitly allowing the perpetuation of hate, violence or discriminatory intolerance, we take immediate and decisive action."

Additionally, Joynet, Gab's hosting provider, and Gab's payment processor, Stripe, also began cutting ties with the company. Finally, GoDaddy gave Gab 24 hours to find a new domain or the site would be suspended.^[13]

In response to the "no-platforming" of Gab, the company tweeted,^[14] "The left couldn’t control Gab. The media couldn’t control Gab. Venture capitalists couldn’t control Gab. Advertisers couldn’t control Gab. Whining activists couldn’t control Gab. Big Tech couldn’t control Gab. So Gab needed to be smeared and taken offline at all costs." The tweet received more than 1,200 retweets and 2,300 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

On October 29th, the company tweeted,^[15] "Gab has spent the past 48 hours proudly working with the DOJ and FBI to bring justice to an alleged terrorist. Because of the data we provided, they now have plenty of evidence for their case. Please pray for all involved and the victims." The post received more than 345 retweets and 790 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Speaking to Gizmodo,^[13] Michael Edison Hayden, an open source intelligence analyst at Storyful, criticized Gab and referred to it as a hub of right-wing radicalization. He said:

Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab, will get angry when people for call his site a white nationalist website or an alt-right website but anyone who spends time on it knows that it’s a haven for extremists. Violent white supremacist groups like Patriot Front and Atomwaffen Division organize out in the open on Gab. Users frequently call for the murder of women, Jews and other minorities on Gab, and are rewarded with likes and reposts….[Charleston, South Carolina church shooter] Dylann Roof is treated as a hero by many Gab users."

Government Response

Speaking to reporters, United States President Donald Trump said that the shooting could have been prevented had the synagogue hired armed protection.^[3] He said:

"If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. If they had some kind of protection within the temple it could have been a much better situation. They didn’t […] This is a case where if they had an armed guard inside they may have been able to stop him immediately, maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him maybe."

He continued:

"I think one thing we should do is to stiffen up our laws in terms of the death penalty. I think they should stiffen up laws and i think they should very much stiffen up the laws […] It’s a terrible terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country frankly and all over the world, and something has to be done."

Michael Eisenberg, a former president of Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha congregation, said that the synagogue did have a police presence on the High Holy Days but that "on a day like today, the door is open. It's a religious service, you could walk in and out."^[4]

Hours after the shooting, President Trump was criticized for retweeting Dinesh D'souza, a controversial right-wing filmmaker, who has been accused of promoting racist and antisemitic sentiments in the past (shown below).^[7]

Letter to President Trump from Pittsburgh Jewish Leaders

Following his comments, a group of Jewish leaders from Pittsburgh that are affiliated with the Bend The Arc Jewish action organization wrote a letter to Trump. They wrote:

For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.

Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted. You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.

The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.

The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.

This means all of us.

On October 28th, when asked about whether or not Trump is welcome in Pittsburgh (video below), Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said, "That’s really up to the families themselves."^[18]

That day, Twitter^[17] user @igorvolsky tweeted, "Jewish leaders in #Pittsburgh pen powerful letter to Trump. -- 'President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.' -- 'President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.'" The post received more than 9,200 retweets and 18,000 likes in three days (shown below).

That day, Redditor^[11] slingtarp posted "Jewish leaders tell Trump he's not welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism" in the /r/politics subreddit. The post received more than 75,000 points (75% upvoted) and 5,300 comments in 24 hours.

Within days, more than 44,000 people signed the petition.^[16]

Search Interest

External References