Feds will file hate crime, other charges against synagogue gunman that ‘could lead to death penalty’
UPDATE 10/27/2018 2:13 p.m. Sessions says feds will file hate crime, other charges against synagogue gunman that ‘could lead to death penalty’
UPDATE 10/27/2018 1:16 p.m. City official says 11 killed, six injured in shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue.
UPDATE 10/27/2018 12:40 p.m. The social media site Gab.com says the shooter at a Pittsburgh synagogue had a profile on their website.
The company says the account was verified after Saturday’s shooting and matched the name of the gunman mentioned on police radio communications.
A law enforcement official identified the shooter to The Associated Press as Robert Bowers.
A man with the same name posted on Gab before the shooting 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.”
HIAS is a nonprofit group that helps refugees around the world find safety and freedom. The organization says it is guided by Jewish values and history.
President and CEO Mark Hetfield says he wasn’t aware of the shooter’s “obsession with HIAS until this morning.”
Gab said in a statement that it suspended the alleged gunman’s account, backed up the content and notified the FBI.
Gab says its mission is to defend free expression and individual liberty online for all people.
The social media site is popular with far-right extremists.
UPDATE 10/27/2018 12:02 p.m. At least 10 people killed in shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue.
PREVIOUS STORY: President Donald Trump says “a lot of people” were killed in the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday and it “looks definitely like it’s an anti-Semitic crime.”
Trump tells reporters at the airport in Indianapolis that what “happened today is a horrible, horrible thing.”
He says the FBI is now involved and there were “a lot of people killed” and “a lot of people very badly wounded.” He also says the crime scene is one of the worst many professionals have seen.
Police have a suspect in custody after Saturday’s attack at the Tree of Life Congregation.
A shooter opened fire during a baby-naming ceremony, killing an unknown number of people and wounding six others, including four police officers who dashed to the scene.
