On Saturday morning, eleven people were shot at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. Worshippers had gathered at the synagogue, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood for a baby naming ceremony during the Sabbath.  According to reports, the suspect, who has been officially identified as Robert Bowers, 46,  a white male, entered the building armed with an assault rifle and two pistols.  It is believed that Bowers began shooting into the crowd shortly before 10 a.m.  making several anti-Semitic statements during the killings.

Jim Waite, who lives across the street, said he walked outside after hearing a commotion. He assumed it was a car accident. A police car flew past him; another officer yelled to get inside. Waite said he heard more than five — possibly as many as nine — shots from inside his home.He said he could hear screams from inside the synagogue.

Emergency services arrived at the building at about 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT), and gunshots could be heard. By then Bowers had barricaded himself in a room at the synagogue.

Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said that two officers were injured in an “initial confrontation” and that a further two Swat officers were later hurt by the gunman when they entered the building.  The crime scene was “horrific”, he told reporters. “One of the worst I’ve seen, and I’ve [worked] on some plane crashes. It’s very bad,” he added.

Michael Eisenberg, the immediate past president of the Tree of Life congregation, said three congregations — Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash — would have been holding simultaneous services in the building on a typical Saturday. “There would usually would be about 40 people attending the Tree of Life service in the “main part of the building,” Eisenberg said. In the basement below, New Light’s service would also have about 30 to 40 people. And the Dor Hadash congregation in the rabbi’s study room would have about 15 people,” he said.

Bowers, of suburban Baldwin, then surrendered to authorities and it was later confirmed that he was being treated in a local hospital.  Two other people are in hospital in a critical condition, police said.

Bowers had targeted Jews in posts on social media which is a focus of the investigation, according to a federal law enforcement official.  Federal investigators are treating the shooting as a hate crime. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish non-governmental organisation that fights anti-Semitism, said: “We believe this is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.”

US media said Bowers had shouted “All Jews must die” as he carried out the attack.

Saturday morning’s violence rocked the city and the historic Jewish neighborhood surrounding the synagogue, which one congregant described as “close-knit.” Squirrel Hill has one of the largest Jewish populations in Pennsylvania and this would have been the synagogue’s busiest day of the week.  Hundreds of people – from the neighborhood and also all across Pittsburgh – later gathered for an interfaith vigil for the victims of the attack in Squirrel Hill.  Sophia Levin, a local resident and one of the organizers, told the BBC some people were “really sad” and the mood was “heavy”, but she added that people also wanted to be “together, not alone”, and the vigil would help heal the city.  Holding their candles, they sang the Jewish prayer of healing. The elders in the community had wanted to wait a day before holding the vigil, but the young people said no – they wanted an immediate chance to share their grief and voice their hurt. Fifteen-year-old Sophia Levin declared that she was a different Jew today to the one she was yesterday. Anti-Semitism, she said, had been something she thought happened elsewhere and in earlier times; but now she knew it was right here, right now. Some of these young people have been involved in the student gun control movement that sprang up after the Parkland shooting earlier this year. One of them, Rebecca Glickman, told the crowd that gun control was needed now more than ever. “An anti-Semite with a gun is more dangerous than an anti-Semite without a gun, so that’s a good place to start.”

Pittsburgh FBI’s special agent in charge of the investigation, Bob Jones, told a press conference that Mr Bowers did not appear to be known to authorities prior to events on Saturday.  He said that any motive remains unknown but that authorities believe he was acting alone.  Mr Jones added that the investigation was “in the early stages”. “We will look at every aspect of the suspect’s life,” he said.

A law enforcement source told CNN that investigators believe an account on Gab, a social media platform, that espoused anti-Semitic views belonged to Bowers. The language on the account matches the suspected motivations behind the shootings, the source said.  Its last ominous post was made at 9:49 a.m., just five minutes before police were notified of the shooting.  “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered,” Bowers wrote. “Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Bowers’ anti-Semitic comments also fueled other hate speech he shared on Gab, which has styled itself as an alternative to Twitter and puts nearly no restrictions on content.  In one post, Bowers claimed Jews were helping transport members of the migrant caravans. He believed that those in the migrant caravans were violent because they were attempting to leave countries that had high levels of violence. And Bowers repeatedly called them “invaders.” “I have noticed a change in people saying ‘illegals’ that now say ‘invaders’,” read one post, six days before the shooting. “I like this.”

Among the vitriolic statements is also criticism of President Donald Trump, in which Bowers suggested the President was surrounded by too many Jewish people.  “Trump is surrounded by k****”, “things will stay the course,” read one post on Gab, using a derogatory term to describe Jews.

Roughly four hours before the shooting, Bowers commented in a post that he did not vote for Trump. In a statement, Gab disavowed “all acts of terrorism and violence” and said its mission was to defend free expression and individual liberty online for all people.” After being alerted to the suspect’s profile on the platform, Gab said it backed up the data, suspended the account and contacted the FBI.

Bowers also posted photos on his Gab account showing his handgun collection, including multiple clips and sights. On September 20, Bowers posted images of shooting targets he said were from July 2017. He said he was firing at the targets with a Walther PPQ handgun.

President Trump called the shooting a “terrible, terrible thing”.  “To see this happen again and again, for so many years, it’s just a shame,” he told reporters on Saturday.  He described the gunman as a “maniac” and suggested the US should “stiffen up our laws of the death penalty”.  “These people should pay the ultimate price. This has to stop,” he said.

The Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh

Later on Saturday, Mr Trump appeared at the Future Farmers of America Convention in Indianapolis, saying: “There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism. It must be condemned and confronted everywhere and anywhere it appears.” Speaking to reporters after the event, Mr Trump said the attacker was not one of his supporters, describing him as “sick”. President Donald Trump said “a lot of people” had been killed and injured in a “wicked act of mass murder”.

President Trump said he would visit Pittsburgh, following the attack. Mr Trump has also said that the incident had “little to do” with US gun laws. “If they had protection inside, maybe it could have been a different situation.”

Former US President Barack Obama voiced a different position on the ongoing gun law debate, tweeting: “We have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.”

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said in a statement that the incident was an “absolute tragedy” and that such acts of violence could not be accepted as “normal”. He said: “These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. “My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need.”

The president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Jeff Finkelstein, said his “heart goes out to all these families”.”Now I’m just sad. This should not be happening. Period. It should not be happening in a synagogue. It should not be happening in our neighbourhood here in Squirrel Hill,” he said.

Other world leaders to condemn the attack include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he was “heartbroken and appalled”. “We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality,” he said in a video message.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she was “shocked” by the attack. “Our thoughts are with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and all those affected by this sickening and cowardly act,” she said.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country’s hearts “are with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh today”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “We all have to stand up against anti-Semitism, everywhere.” The New York Police Department said it had deployed officers to synagogues throughout the city as a precaution.

The BBC’s Dan Johnson in Washington says the shootings come at a tense time in the US, after a week in which mail bombs were sent to critics of Mr Trump, ahead of crucial mid-term elections next month.

Investigators recovered a rifle and three handguns from the scene of the shooting, Jones said. Authorities believe the suspect acted alone, and he said law enforcement had no knowledge of Bowers prior to the shooting.

Five victims were being treated at two Pittsburgh hospitals, according to Paul Wood, a spokesman for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Four victims were being treated at UPMC Presbyterian and one victim was being treated at UPMC Mercy. One person was treated at Presbyterian and released.

Federal prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against a Pennsylvania man who authorities say stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue and opened fire, killing 11 people. Robert Bowers, 46, of suburban Baldwin, surrendered to authorities after Saturday morning’s shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. It’s believed he made anti-Semitic statements during the shooting and targeted Jews in posts on social media that are a focus of the investigation, according to a federal law enforcement official. Bowers faces 29 charges in all in a rampage that left the historic Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, and the rest of the nation stunned. The attack was believed to be the deadliest on the Jewish community in US history, the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement. “These incidents usually occur in other cities,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters Saturday afternoon. “Today, the nightmare has hit home in the city of Pittsburgh.”

Bowers is charged with 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder and multiple counts of two hate crimes: obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death and obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer, authorities said, citing a criminal complaint, which is sealed. “The crimes of violence are based upon the federal civil rights laws prohibiting hate crimes,” US Attorney Scott W. Brady and Bob Jones, FBI special agent in charge of Pittsburgh office, said in a statement.

Bowers could face the death penalty if he is convicted of a hate crime. Six people were injured as a result of the shooting, said Hissrich, four of whom were police officers who responded to the scene. No children were killed, he said. “The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity,” Brady said.