Gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting found guilty of 11 counts of obstructing free religious exercise resulting in death, all capital offenses
CNN —
[Breaking news update, published at 11:55 a.m. ET]
Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, was convicted by a federal jury on 11 capital counts of obstruction of the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.
The verdicts on 52 additional counts are still being read in court. The conviction on these counts means the trial will move to a separate penalty phase, in which the same jury will listen to further evidence and decide whether to sentence him to death.
The mass shooting left 11 people dead and six wounded, including four police officers who responded to the scene.
Read our live coverage here.
[Original story, published at 11:36 a.m. ET]
A jury has reached a verdict in the federal trial of the man accused of killing 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest ever attack on Jewish people in the US.
The verdict will be read in court shortly.
Robert Bowers, 50, has pleaded not guilty to 63 charges, including obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death and hate crimes resulting in death. If convicted on the most serious charges, he could face the death penalty.
The jury has deliberated for just over five hours.
Read our live coverage here.
The panel returned to the courtroom with a question after deliberating for just over an hour, asking the court for instructions on the meaning of “intention to kill” on counts 40 to 47, which involve the six people who were injured in the shooting.
Judge Robert Colville sent a note back to the jury, saying he cannot answer the question and referred them to his initial instructions.
The judge said under the instructions for intent to kill, the definition does not require specific facts. He noted “it remains up to you whether Bowers acted on intent with respect to evidence” presented.
Deliberations began Thursday afternoon and lasted for about two and half hours after prosecutors and the defense delivered closing arguments in the case against Robert Bowers.
In closing arguments on Thursday, Bowers’ defense did not dispute he carried out the massacre. His attorney, Elisa Long, argued he did so because of his hatred for immigrants and the nonprofit Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society but not hatred for Jews.
“Stopping religious study was not his intent or motive,” Long added.
Prosecuting attorney Eric Olshan countered that argument in a rebuttal on Thursday.
“These weren’t people who were engaging in refugee assistance,” Olshan said. “These were people trying to practice their faith.”
On October 27, 2018, Bowers stormed into the Tree of Life synagogue in the Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood and killed 11 people and wounded six others. The shooting unfolded on a day when the synagogue was hosting three congregations, Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light, for weekly Shabbat services.
In building the case against Bowers, prosecutors called 60 witnesses over more than two weeks to argue he executed the attack because of his hatred for Jewish people, citing a series of antisemitic comments before, during and after the mass shooting, online and in person.
One of those witnesses was Andrea Wedner, who was shot in the arm and survived the shooting by playing dead next to her dying 97-year-old mother. In her emotional testimony, she described the moment she said goodbye to her mother, Rose Mallinger.
“I kissed my fingers, and I touched my fingers to her skin. I cried out, ‘Mommy,’” she said.
Witnesses included survivors of the attack, law enforcement officers who engaged in a shootout with the gunman, and medical, firearms and computer experts.
“The defendant was caught at the synagogue with the murder weapon, so we know he is the shooter,” prosecutor Mary Hahn said in closing arguments. “He outright told SWAT operators he went to the synagogue to kill Jews.”
New Light Congregation released a statement Thursday saying Bowers was “indiscriminate in his task, shooting both worshippers and police officers.”
“Survivors were forced to relive the day’s trauma; while family members suffered through testimony recalling the final minutes of their loved ones,” the congregation said. “He came to kill Jews.”
“There can be no forgiveness. Forgiveness requires two components: that it is offered by the person who commits the wrong and is accepted by the person who was wronged,” the congregation’s statement reads. “The shooter has not asked – and the dead cannot accept.”
Bowers approached the synagogue with three handguns and an AR-15 rifle, and began firing near the entrance to the synagogue and then opened fire on congregants, according to testimony.
Police eventually shot Bowers multiple times before he surrendered and was arrested.
In addition to the 11 killed, two worshippers and four responding police officers were wounded. Eight people who were inside the building escaped unharmed.
Those who died included a 97-year-old great-grandmother, an 87-year-old accountant and a couple married at the synagogue more than 60 years earlier.
Before the shooting, Bowers spent years posting about attacks on immigrants and Jewish people on Gab, a small social media platform used by far-right extremists.
He criticized migrants as “invaders” and repeatedly disparaged the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a Maryland charity originally founded a century ago in New York that provides support to refugees all over the world, regardless of religion.
Source: CNN
