by Dr. Eowyn
We are told that at 9:50 a.m. on Saturday, October 27, 2018, a bearded, heavy-set white male” armed with an assault rifle and three Glock handguns, burst into the Tree of Life Synagogue during Sabbath services in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Screaming “All Jews must die!,” Bowers shot and killed 11 people and wounding a half-dozen more, including four police officers, before surrendering.
The media say the “Sabbath services” the shooter interrupted was a “baby-naming ceremony”. Other accounts say “baby-naming ceremony” is a euphemism for bris or circumcision.
By 9:54 a.m., police began receiving calls from people barricaded in the building reporting the attack. At 9:59 a.m., police arrived at the synagogue. The gunman fired on police from the synagogue, wounding two officers.
At 10:30 a.m., tactical teams entered the building and were again fired upon by the gunman. Officers returned fire and wounded him, leading him to retreat to a room on the third floor of the synagogue. In the exchange of gunfire two SWAT members were also wounded, one critically.
At 11:08 a.m., the gunman crawled out of the room in which he was hiding and surrendered. As he received medical care in police custody, he allegedly told a SWAT officer that he wanted all Jews to die, and that Jews were committing genocide to his people, according to a criminal complaint filed in Allegheny County.
The shooting was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history, according to Wikipedia.
Those killed ranged in age from 54 to 97, with an average age of 74.
The suspect is Robert Gregory Bowers, born September 4, 1972, age 46, a resident of Baldwin, PA. He was arrested and charged with 29 federal crimes and 36 state crimes:
- See the Department of Justice press release on his 44-count indictment here. Note that the DOJ refers to him as “Robert Bowers, 46, of Baldwin, Pa.”.
- See the Western District of Pennsylvania’s Grand Jury indictment here.
Curiously, this shooting shares a characteristic with false-flag shootings in that the synagogue shooting had been preceded by an active shooter drill in a nearby Jewish community center. (See “Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was preceded by an active shooter dri...“)
The alleged lone shooter seems to be straight out of Hollywood central casting for a “far right” anti-Semitic monster. This is what Wikipedia says about Robert Bowers, with source footnotes:
Robert Gregory Bowers (born September 4, 1972),[4][5][52] a 46-year-old resident of Baldwin, Pennsylvania, was arrested as the suspected shooter.[53][54][55][56] He attended Baldwin High School in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District from August 1986 to November 1989. He then dropped out of high school and worked as a trucker.[57][58]
Neighbors described Bowers as “a ghost” and said that he rarely interacted with others.[53] He was reported to have been heavily involved in far-right websites such as Gab and had promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories online social media.[59]
Gab has been described as “extremist friendly”[60] for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right.[60] Bowers’ Gab profile was registered in January 2018 under the handle “onedingo”, and the account’s description was: “Jews are the children of Satan (John 8:44). The Lord Jesus Christ [has] come in the flesh.” …[H]e criticized President Donald Trump for being a “globalist, not a nationalist”[67]and for supposedly being controlled and surrounded by Jews.[68] In another post, he wrote, “There is no #MAGA as long as there is a kike infestation.”[56] Other posts attacked African Americans with racial slurs and images related to lynching, and attacked women who have relationships with black men.[69] He also used his online accounts to post conspiracy theories regarding investor and philanthropist George Soros.[70]
…He claimed that Jews were aiding members of Central American caravans moving towards the United States border and to have referred to members of those caravans as “invaders”.[12]
…After the shooting, Gab suspended Bowers’ profile and pledged to cooperate with the criminal investigation.[61][66] Shortly after the attack, PayPal, Stripe, Joyent, and Medium pulled support for Gab, and GoDaddy, which the Gab domains were registered under, required Gab to relocate their domain name hosting to a different service in the wake of the shooting, effectively shutting Gab down in the short term.[73]
Note: As of today, Gab is still down. Read their message here.
Bowers was charged by the US Department of Justice with 29 federal crimes.[4][6][74]
The federal charges include eleven counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, eleven counts of use of a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence, four counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer, and three counts of use and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.[34][74][75][76]
The crimes of violence are based upon the federal civil rights laws prohibiting hate crimes.[76]
Bowers was also charged with 36 state criminal counts, including 11 counts of criminal homicide, 6 counts of aggravated assault, 6 counts of attempted criminal homicide and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation.[4][6]
Bowers appeared in fede
http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-curious-case-of-pittsburgh-s...
