Gunman used social media to attack Jews before deadly Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, jurors learn

2023-06-14 01:50

A gunman who killed 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue ranted incessantly on social media about his hatred of Jews before the 2018 attack

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A gunman who killed 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue ranted incessantly on social media about his hatred of Jewish people before the 2018 attack, according to evidence introduced at his federal death penalty trial Tuesday.

Prosecutors are trying to show Robert Bowers was motivated by extreme hostility toward Jews when he opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue during Sabbath services and committed the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

The 50-year-old truck driver is charged with 63 criminal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and the obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. Some of the charges carry a potential death sentence.

With the trial in its third week, testimony turned toward Bowers’ use of Gab — a social media platform popular with the far right — to advance his antisemitic views.

Bowers’ Gab profile said “Jews are the children of Satan,” and he posted, liked or shared a stream of virulently antisemitic content, according to dozens of examples provided to the jury Monday and Tuesday. Bowers called Jews “public enemy number one,” according to a post read by an FBI agent, spoke approvingly of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi extermination of Jews, and shared an image that said “the only good Jew is a dead Jew.”

On the morning of the attack, Bowers posted about HIAS, a Jewish agency that helps refugees resettle in the United States. Dor Hadash, one of the three congregations that shared the Tree of Life building, worked with HIAS.

“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,” Bowers posted.

Working to spare his life, Bowers' lawyers have acknowledged he was the shooter but are trying to raise questions about motive. The defense has suggested he did not act out of religious hatred but rather a delusional belief that Jews were enabling genocide by helping immigrants come to the U.S.

Survivors have previously testified about the terror they felt that day as Bowers barged into the synagogue and shot everyone he could find, while police officers testified about exchanging gunfire with Bowers, who surrendered after being shot three times. Seven people were wounded in the rampage, including five police officers.