US synagogue shooting: Truck driver convicted of killing 11 worshippers
A truck driver has been convicted of fatally shooting 11 worshippers at a synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jewish people in the US.
Robert Bowers, 50, also wounded seven more, including five police officers, after he barged into the Pittsburgh building and opened fire with an assault rifle and other weapons.
Bowers was charged with 63 counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death.
Victims: Top row (L-R) Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, and David Rosenthal. Bottom row (L-R), Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger
During his weeks-long trial, jurors heard testimony from survivors and evidence of Bowers’ antisemitism, including posts attacking Jews made on a far-right website in the months before the 27 October 2018 attack.
At the US District Court in the Pennsylvania city, the jury convicted him of all charges.
Bowers turned a sacred house of worship into a “hunting ground”, targeting his victims because of their religion, a prosecutor had told jurors.
Reading the names of each of the 11 victims he killed at the Tree of Life synagogue, prosecutor Mary Hahn asked the jury to “hold this defendant accountable… and hold him accountable for those who cannot testify”.
During the trial, a woman recounted how she was shot in the arm and then realised her 97-year-old mother had been shot and killed next to her.
Andrea Wedner told jurors she touched her mother’s body and cried out, “Mommy”, before officers led her to safety.
A makeshift memorial outside the Tree of Life synagogue in the aftermath of the shooting. Pic: AP
Bowers faces death sentence or life in jail
The guilty verdict was not in doubt after his lawyers conceded at the start of the trial that he attacked and killed worshippers at the synagogue.
He could be sentenced to death or face life in prison without parole.
All 12 jurors must vote unanimously in order to sentence Bowers to death with the penalty phase set to last several weeks.
His lawyers had offered a guilty plea in return for a life term in jail but prosecutors refused, choosing instead to take the case to trial and pursue the death penalty.
Most of the victims’ families expressed support for the decision.
Prosecutors will try to show that aggravating factors were involved, arguing Bowers carefully planned the attack and targeted vulnerable victims. Most of the victims were elderly.
The defendant’s legal team plans to introduce evidence that Bowers has schizophrenia, epilepsy and brain impairments as they try to save his life.
Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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Has Charlie Kirk become a MAGA ‘martyr’?
And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
Read more:
What do we know about Erika Kirk?
Charlie Kirk’s movement is growing in wake of his assassination
Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
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