Robert Bowers

The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was an antisemitic terrorist attack that took place at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

Originally founded as an Orthodox Jewish congregation in 1864 in downtown Pittsburgh, by an early group of Jewish immigrants, Tree of Life merged in 2010 with the recently founded Congregation Or L'Simcha.

The modern synagogue building, located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues in Squirrel Hill, was built in 1953.

The congregation also rents space to Dor Hadash, a Reconstructionist congregation; and New Light, another Conservative congregation.

The synagogue's main sanctuary has a capacity of 1,250 people.

Squirrel Hill has a low crime rate and is not generally regarded as racially tense.

However, local rabbinic student Neal Rosenblum was murdered in the neighborhood in 1986 in an antisemitic hate crime.

A similar rise in online attacks had occurred during the 2016 US election, with the midterms being a "rallying point" for far-right extremists to organize efforts to spread antisemitism online among the populace.

In 2017 there was a 57% rise in antisemitic incidents in the United States, in context of rising hate crimes against other groups, including Muslims and African Americans, as reported by the FBI.

For instance, hundreds of Jewish gravestones were vandalized in Pennsylvania and Missouri, and antisemitic incidents on university campuses doubled in number.

In August 2017, the widely publicized Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia featured Nazi symbols, salutes, and the slogan "Blood and Soil", among other racist and antisemitic rhetoric.

Considerable antisemitic material was being spread online via conspiracy theories about wealthy Jewish individuals, including billionaire George Soros.

Columbia University's Jon Albright said that these represented the "worst sample" of all the hate speech he had seen on Instagram.

At 9:45 a.m. EDT (13:45 UTC), three religious services were underway in the Tree of Life synagogue, which housed three distinct congregations.

Tree of Life and New Light had both begun independent Shabbat morning service in the Pervin Chapel and basement, respectively.

The Dor Hadash congregants were gathered near the front of the building, prior to their 10:00 a.m. Torah study session.

Five minutes later, a gunman, identified as Robert Bowers and described as a "bearded heavy-set white male", entered the building, opened fire and was "shooting for about 20 minutes."

He was armed with a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle (cited by authorities as an "assault rifle") and three Glock .357 SIG semi-automatic pistols, all four of which he fired, according to authorities.

There would typically be around 75 people in the building on a Saturday morning.

The first two persons shot were two brothers, Cecil and David Rosenthal, at the main entrance, after which Bowers headed downstairs to New Light.

Some hearing the shots did not initially recognize them for what they were: Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, located upstairs, thought a coat rack had fallen and clattered.

The congregation, along with New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash, which also worshipped in the building, was attacked during Shabbat morning services on October 27, 2018.

The perpetrator killed eleven people and wounded six, including several Holocaust survivors.

It was the deadliest attack on any Jewish community in the United States.

The perpetrator, identified as 46-year-old Robert Gregory Bowers, was shot multiple times by police and 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 which are capital crimes.

He pleaded not guilty.

On June 16, 2023, he was found guilty on all federal counts, and on August 3, 2023, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

He separately faces 36 charges in Pennsylvania state court.

Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation is a Conservative Jewish synagogue.

The synagogue describes itself as a "traditional, progressive, and egalitarian congregation".

It is located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1 mi east of Carnegie Mellon University and about 5 mi east of downtown Pittsburgh.

The Squirrel Hill neighborhood is one of the largest predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in the United States and has historically been the center of Pittsburgh's Jewish community.

About 26 percent of the city's Jewish population live in the area.

This 2018 mass shooting took place soon after Columbia University and the Anti-Defamation League independently reported a spike in antisemitic activity online, especially on the popular social networking platforms Instagram and Twitter.

In addition, other antisemitic acts had been committed elsewhere.

The immediate rise in the months of August to October 2018 was attributed to rising tensions associated with advertising for the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.