Robert Bowers suspected of killing 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh has been charged with obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.
Officials said Bowers used an “assault rifle” and had three handguns on him when he surrendered to police after the bloodbath in the synagogue. He was wounded by police, but the nature of his injuries was not immediately revealed.
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A licensed gun owner who legally purchased at least six guns since 1996, Bowers had no criminal record and was “unknown to law enforcement” before the massacre, according to Special Agent Bob Jones of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office. “The suspect’s full motive is unknown but we believe he was acting alone,” Jones added.
“It’s a very horrific crime scene. One of the worst that I’ve seen, and I’ve been on some plane crashes,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters.
“It’s very bad,” he added. He declined to confirm the number of dead. The investigation will be led by the FBI in Philadelphia, and the shooting has been classified a federal hate crime, he said.
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder called the massacre “an attack not just on the Jewish community, but on America as a whole.”
In online posts, Bowers described himself right-wing, but virulently anti-Trump and anti-Semitic.
“Jews are the children of satan. (john 8:44)” he’d written on his bio on Gab, an alt-right version of Twitter on which he called himself “
President Trump spoke with CBS News around 12:30 p.m., saying this is happening "time and time again" and it is shameful.