Photo from Wikimedia Commons The Department of Justice announced on Aug. 26 that they will be seeking the death penalty against Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman behind the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in October.
DOJ prosecutors argued in their filing, “Bowers targeted men and women participating in Jewish religious worship at the Tree of Life Synagogue, located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is home to one of the largest and oldest urban Jewish populations in the United States, in order to maximize the devastation, amplify the harm of his crimes and instill fear within the local, national, and international Jewish communities.”
The shooting resulted in 11 dead; Bowers has plead not guilty to the 63 federal charges filed against him.
President Donald Trump had called for the death penalty against Bowers in October, saying at the time, “I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue. Anybody that does a thing like this to innocent people that are in temple or in church. We had so many incidents with churches. They should really suffer the ultimate price.”
Pittsburgh’s New Light Congregation Rabbi Jonathan Perlman argued against the death penalty in a letter to Attorney General William Barr earlier in the month, stating, “I would like the Pittsburgh killer to be incarcerated for the rest of his life without parole. He should meditate on whether taking action on some white separatist fantasy against the Jewish people was really worth it. Let him live with it forever.”
Three of the victims of the shooting were New Light congregants.
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