A truck driver who spewed hatred of Jews was convicted Friday of storming a Pittsburgh synagogue and shooting everyone he could find on a Sabbath morning, killing 11 congregants in an act of antisemitic terror for which he could be sentenced to die.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.Ellen Surloff, left, vice president of Congregation Dor Hadash, and Jo Recht, president of Congregation Dor Hadash, are interviewed after Robert Bowers was found guilty, Friday, June 16, 2023, in Pittsburgh.
“I am grateful to God for getting us to this day,” Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life Congregation, who survived the attack, said in a written statement. “And I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me, and the U.S. Attorney who stood up in court to defend my right to pray.”The jury deliberated for about five hours over two days before reaching a verdict. Bowers, wearing a dark sweater and blue shirt, had little reaction.
All three congregations sharing the building — Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life — lost members in the attack. The victims ranged in age from 54 to 97.“We learned things that we did not know,” said Stephen Cohen, co-president of New Light. “... In that sense, it was traumatizing. But it’s also, in a sense, cathartic because you did hear what happened.”“They drew a picture that was even more horrific than we had imagined,” Recht said.
Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, also shot and wounded seven, including five responding police officers. The congregations have spoken out against antisemitism and other bigotry since the attack. The Tree of Life congregation also is working on a plan to overhaul the synagogue building — which still stands but has been closed since the shootings — by creating a complex that would house a sanctuary, museum, memorial and center for fighting antisemitism.
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