The man who shot and killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 has been sentenced to death.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville decided the punishment for Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver, CBN News reports.
“I have nothing specific that I care to say to Mr. Bowers,” Colville said before issuing the order formal sentence. “I am, however, convinced there is nothing I could say to him that might be meaningful.”
Before the shooting, Bowers wrote online about his dislike of Jews. Then on Oct. 27, 2018, Bowers attacked the Tree of Life synagogue. He told police that “all these Jews must die.”
Bowers, armed with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, shot and wounded seven, including five police officers.
He was convicted of 63 federal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death.
Jurors decided that Bowers chose the synagogue because of its large size to “maximize the devastation, amplify the harm of his crimes, and instill fear within the local, national, and international Jewish communities.”
Bowers’ defense argued that he had schizophrenia and delusions about Jewish people.
At his sentencing, Bowers reportedly showed little reaction, “briefly acknowledging his legal team and family as he was led from the courtroom.”
Attack survivor Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life Congregation noted that the day the verdict was decided was a “day of love” on the Hebrew calendar.
“I don’t believe in coincidences. Today we received an immense embrace from the halls of justice,” he said, adding that the jury’s decision was an affirmation that “we have the right to practice our Judaism, and no one will ever take that right away from us.”
The family of 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, who was killed in the attack, and her daughter, Andrea Wedner, who was shot and wounded, thanked the jurors after the verdict, saying, “A measure of justice has been served.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Jeff Swensen
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
