The rabbi who led a morning service at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue where 11 people were shot dead has urged America’s political leaders to “stop the words of hate” during an emotional vigil speech on Sunday.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who described himself as a victim, survivor and mourner, drew a standing ovation as he told the crowd: “I want to address for a moment some of our political leaders who were here. Ladies and gentlemen it has to start with you as our leaders … Stop the words of hate … If it comes from you, Americans will listen.”
He told how the shooting started minutes after he opened the 9.45am service. “I helped pull out the people that I could from the front but alas I had eight people in the back,” he said. “One fortunately survived. Seven of my congregants were shot dead in my sanctuary. My holy place has been defiled.”
The 11 victims of the shooting were named on Sunday. The suspected gunman, Robert Bowers, has been charged with 29 federal crimes including 11 counts of murdering victims exercising their religious beliefs on what Mayor Bill Peduto called the “darkest day of Pittsburgh’s history”. Bowers is being treated for gunshot wounds and is due in court on Monday.
Those who died at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday were aged between 54 and 97, and included a husband and wife and two brothers. They came from all three congregations that were meeting at the synagogue that morning.
Myers reminded people they could choose the path of good. “You don’t have to follow the prone to evil path. We can also be prone to good. If you decide to take that path. It starts with speech. Words of hate are unwelcome in Pittsburg.”
Congregation member Joseph Charny told the Washington Post how he heard a loud noise from downstairs before a man appeared in the doorway and the gunfire began. “I looked up and there were all these dead bodies,” said Charny, a retired psychiatrist. “I wasn’t in the mood to stay there.” The 90-year-old said he ran up to the third floor and hid in a storage room.
Authorities are treating the attack as a hate crime but not domestic terrorism, US attorney Scott Brady said at a press conference on Sunday morning, though he added: “We continue to see where that line is.”
“During the course of his deadly assault on the people of the synagogue, Bowers made statements regarding genocide and his desire to kill Jewish people,” Brady said.
The Guardian
