PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Eight people have been killed and a number of others injured after a shooting situation at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday.
KDKA’s Meghan Schiller reports that a suspect, a heavy-set white male with a beard, has surrendered. The SWAT team had been talking with the suspect, and he was crawling and injured. It is unclear the extent of his injuries.
KDKA sources confirm to Andy Sheehan that the suspect is 48-year-old Robert Bowers. It is believed that he acted alone.
According to Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich, at least six other people were injured, including four police officers. The officers’ injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The other two victims were last listed in critical and serious condition.
Police sources tell KDKA’s Andy Sheehan the gunman walked into the building and yelled, “All Jews must die.” Sheehan’s sources confirmed that eight people were dead. Others had been shot, but the extent of their injuries in unknown at this time.
When officers arrived, the gunman reportedly shot at them, forcing officers to use their vehicles as a shield.
The shooting happened during weekly Shabbat services at the conservative Jewish Synagogue, the building was full of people for a Saturday service and police say they’ve received several calls from people barricaded inside the Synagogue.
1. Bowers Was Armed With an AR-15 ‘Style’ Rifle & Was Shot by Police
NBC News’ Tom Winter reports that Bowers was armed with an AR-15 ‘style’ rifle, in addition to multiple handguns. KDKA has described Bowers as being a “heavy-set white male with a beard.” When Bowers emerged from a standoff with police, he was crawling due to injuries. The station also reported that Bowers is alleged to have opened fire on responding officers.
According to NBC News, Bowers was shot at least once by police during the exchange of gunfire at the synagogue. He was taken to the hospital and is undergoing treatment, NBC News reports.
The former president of the synagogue, Michael Eisenberg, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the shooting took place on the third floor of the building. Eisenberg said that typically there would be a children’s class on that floor but had been canceled on the day of the attack.
Police did not find any explosive devices inside the building.
Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich grew emotional during a press briefing Saturday, saying, “It’s a very horrific crime scene. One of the worst that I’ve seen and I’ve been on some plane crashes. It’s very bad.”
2. Bowers Said on Gab That He Did Not Vote for Donald Trump Because Trump Has Allowed Jewish People in His Administration & Among His Supporters
Gab/Robert Bowers
Bowers was an active poster on an alternative version of Twitter, Gab, which is popular with white supremacists, white nationalists, members of alt-right groups and others who have been kicked off of mainstream social media sites. Bowers went by the moniker One Dingo, @onedingo, on the site. In his bio section, Bowers wrote, “jews are the children of satan. (john 8:44) — —- the lord jesus christ is come in the flesh.” Shortly after the shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation, Bowers’ Gab account was deleted.
Gab/Robert Bowers
In a post a few days before the shooting, Bowers wrote, “Trump is a globalist, not a nationalist. There is no #MAGA as long as there is a k*** infestation. #Qanon is here to get patriots that were against martial law in the 90’s to be ones begging for it now to drain muh swamp. But go ahead and keep saying you are #Winning.” That same day, Bowers wrote, “amazing amount of division on gab today. glas the overwhelming jew problem has been solved so we can now fight with each other.” In another message, Bowers wrote of Trump, “For the record, I did not vote for him nor have I owned, worn or even touched a maga hat.”
Gab/Robert Bowers
On his Gab page, Bowers regularly reposted anti-immigrant sentiment as well as memes that preached holocaust denial.
Gab issued a statement after the shooting saying, “Gab took swift and proactive action to contact law enforcement immediately. We first backed up all user data from the account and then proceeded to suspend the account. We then contacted the FBI and made them aware of this account and the user data in our possession.”
3. A Witness Described the Shooting as Being Like a ‘Loud Crash in the Hallway’
Stephen Weiss, a resident of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood who was present inside the synagogue, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the shooting “sounded like a loud crash in the hallway.” Weiss said that he ran through the building hearing what sounded like an “automatic weapon.” He joined a group sheltering in place in the basement.
There are three congregations in the synagogue, the basement was where the New Life congregation was having their Shabbat service, reports KDKA.
4. A Former President of the Synagogue Said that the Department of Homeland Security Have Run Safety Drills at Tree of Life
The synagogue’s former president Michael Eisenberg said that while he was president, he had the Department of Homeland Security come to Tree of Life. Eisenberg told the Post Gazette the agency ran safety drills. Eisenberg added, “We had to step it up as far as security, although there had been no threats. The building isn’t designed for today as far as security purposes.” Eisenberg went on to tell CBS Pittsburgh that a maintenance worker who escaped was able to do so because of the DHS’ work. Eisenberg said, “He was able to get out of the building… because the exit doors were working well. I just can’t tell you how thankful I am just to do that one task that Homeland Security told us to do.”
According to the synagogue’s website, Shabbat morning services were taking place inside as reports about a shooting emerged. The website says that the congregation was founded “more than 150 years ago” and is a “conservative Jewish congregation” but “is also progressive and relevant to the way we live today.” The rabbi is Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers who has been with the congregation since August 2017. Cox Media Group’s Dorey Scheimer tweeted about the congregation, “I am so sick. Squirrel Hill is the Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Tree of Life is the largest conservative synagogue. Saturday morning is the busiest/most attended service.”
5. The Head of the ADL Has Described the Victims of the Shooting as Being ‘Targeted’
The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League tweeted his condolences to the victims of the shooting. Jonathan Greenblatt wrote that the victims of the attack were “targeted” because of their religion. Greenblatt tweeted, “We are devastated. Jews targeted on Shabbat morning at synagogue, a holy place of worship, is unconscionable. Our hearts break for the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community.” He added, “We are actively engaged with law enforcement to understand the extent of this anti-Semitic attack and we will work together with communities across the country to push back on prejudice wherever it appears.”
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has described the shooting as an “absolute tragedy.” Gov. Wolf added, “We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life. But we have been saying ‘this one is too many’ for too long. Dangerous weapons are putting citizens in harm’s way.”
Looks like the Cult of Trump is finally reaping the seeds it’s sown. God Help Us.
Pipe bombs were sent to former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as to CNN’s offices in New York, sparking an intense investigation on Wednesday into whether a bomber is going after targets that have often been the subject of right-wing ire.
A law enforcement official said the three devices were similar to one found Monday at the home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and liberal donor.
None of the devices harmed anyone. Law enforcement officials said they were investigating whether all the devices were sent by the same person or persons.
[…]
The device sent to CNN was in a manila envelope addressed to John Brennan, who was the C.I.A. director in the Obama administration and is a harsh critic of Mr. Trump. The president revoked Mr. Brennan’s security clearance in what was seen as an act of retribution.
The return address bore the name of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman and a former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, according to a person who saw a photograph of the envelope. The device sent to Mr. Soros was in a similar envelope also with a printed return address label with her name.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference that his office in Manhattan had also received a device, but it was not immediately clear if it was related to the other three devices.
In a statement, the White House condemned “the attempted violent attacks.”
“These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement said. “The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards.”
Folks, I am no fan of the above mentioned people. However, doing this sort of a thing, doesn’t change a damned thing. If anything, it is going to make it harder for the Republican Party to win in the midterms and in 2020. So, whoever did it. Congrats, you idiot. You just screwed us out of a midterm election and possibly 2020. 😡
Minutes after news broke of “potential explosive devices” being mailed to the homes of former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, along with CNN’s New York City studio, the dark corners of the conservative Internet were declaring it a plot to gin up empathy for Democrats.
Cries that the bomb threats was merely a “false flag” operation were evident on Twitter and pro-Trump forums. Many of the personalities pushing the claim were fringe types. But not all of them.
Popular talk radio host Rush Limbaugh hinted that the attempted bombings were set-up by Democrats, saying they would serve a political “purpose.”
“It’s happening in October,” Limbaugh said. “There’s a reason for this.”
Frank Gaffney, an Islamophobe who has held posts on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) presidential campaign and in the Ronald Reagan White House, suggested the packages were a “deflection” technique. “None of the leftists ostensibly targeted for pipe-bombs were actually at serious risk, since security details would be screening their mail,” he tweeted. “So let’s determine not only who is responsible for these bombs, but whether they were trying to deflect attention from the Left’s mobs.”
John Cardillo, a former NYPD officer and popular right-wing radio host, initially denounced political violence on both sides of the aisle, but quickly broadcast his skepticism that the threats were legit. “Just too coincidental that two weeks before Election Day, as the ‘blue wave’ has turned into a ripple, and the left is losing ground because of incivility and violent rhetoric, explosive devices show up in the mailboxes of Soros, Clinton, and Obama,” he wrote on Twitter. He later deleted the tweet.
Is it just me, or does it seem that the Conservative right in this Country is trying to play “Caddie Boy” to the Conspiracy crowd? What nonsense, whoever did this, their mental elevator does not go past the mezzanine; and now we have people blaming the Democrats and the Government. How stupid can you get?
Hopefully, they catch the person or persons who did it.
Well, the President in his quest to make everything about him, tweeted this:
Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?
Mr. President with all due respect, will you please shut the hell up and run the dam country and stop getting on Twitter and acting like an idiot?!?! I voted for you and I'm starting to regret that goddam vote!
A president is supposed to be just that presidential not a loud mouth loose cannon ass hole who can not seem to keep his mouth shut long enough to run the country and get positive change made for this country for those of us who actually need it… @realDonaldTrump
Well, it's seems to me that @realDonaldTrump Has totally and unequivocally Failed that test of what it takes to become and be a president who commands respect.
I mean Mr. President you're defending a woman who made a very stupid racist comment and herself as said she does not want to see people defend that comment and yet you're getting on Twitter defending her? @realDonaldTrump
I'm sorry, Mr. President…. but you have lost my support totally and I will support in the form of monetary support and blogging support and moral support to whom ever the conservative candidate is, that runs against you in 2020. @realDonaldTrump
You came into the presidential race promising to make America great again and to defend america's Trade interests, you promised to clean up the mess that Barack Obama made and most importantly you promised not to get involved with Foreign Affairs. @realDonaldTrump
And as far is this conservative Christian, who has a very traditional view of government… you have failed in your quest to be president and you have turned the Office of the president of the United States of America into a ill timed joke. @realDonaldTrump
George W. Bush may have not been the best president in the world. as matter fact his decision to go into Iraq was a fatal mistake. but at least he held the president of the United States office in high regard and treated it as such. @realDonaldTrump
Therefore Mr. President I'm must regret to inform you that I no longer consider myself to be a trump conservative or a trump supporter @realDonaldTrump
you sir have disgraced the office of the president of the United States and I no longer support your presidency and I look forward to the day @realDonaldTrump
When you take your last step on to Air Force one and it flies your sorry ass back to New York City where you belong and you no longer are able to inflict any further damage upon the office of the president of the United States of America. @realDonaldTrump
and with that folks, I declare, publicly, for the first time, that I am no longer in the pro-trump camp. This man has lost my support. Now, I am not switching sides. I am simply withdrawing support from this President. My political position, principles and convictions have not changed a bit. I just cannot support this President any longer. This has been a LONG time coming and it is finally gotten to the point with me, that I simply cannot continue to support this man.
Stories like this really set me off man. I really hate it, when stuff like this happens.
To set this up, Rochester Hills, Michigan is an upper middle class, predominately white neighborhood. In fact, Hip Hop star Eminem, owned a house there, at one time; before moving into a gated community in Clinton Township.
Here is the story, dripping with liberal, race-baiting, bias and the story is at Fox 2 News here in Detroit, of all places!
Check out the video story on it and watch the nuanced accusation of racism; it’s never said, but it is strongly implied:
Oh, it gets better, check out the story:
ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (WJBK) – A 14-year-old missed his bus and it nearly cost him his life.
Things took a dangerous turn when Brennan Walker went looking for help at a Rochester Hills home Thursday morning and was confronted by a man with a gun.
“I got to the house, and I knocked on the lady’s door. Then she started yelling at me and she was like, ‘Why are you trying to break into my house?’ I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High. And she kept yelling at me. Then the guy came downstairs, and he grabbed the gun, I saw it and started to run. And that’s when I heard the gunshot,” he says.
Thankfully, the man missed. Brennan kept running, hid, then cried.
“My mom says that, black boys get shot because sometimes they don’t look their age, and I don’t look my age. I’m 14; but I don’t look 14. I’m kind of happy that, like, I didn’t become a statistic,” he says in retrospect.
Oakland County Sheriff Deputies arrived soon after to the home on South Christian Hills Drive and took the woman’s husband into custody.
FOX 2: “Your son almost became a hashtag.”
“Exactly, and that’s exactly how I feel. Like, wow. Because you were trying to get to school,” says his mother, Lisa Wright. “I found out later the only reason [the man] missed is because he forgot to take the safety off.”
Lisa was at work when she got the call. She says her husband is deployed in Syria, so she was assuming she was getting a call about him until she realized they were calling about Brennan. She dropped everything and immediately went to the substation to be with her son.
That’s where investigators told her the family’s Ring doorbell recorded the encounter. Investigators watched the video with Brennan and his mom. She says the video confirmed their suspicions.
“One of the things that stands out, that probably angers me the most is, while I was watching the tape, you can hear the wife say, ‘Why did “these people” choose my house?'” she says, before taking a long pause. “Who are, “these people?” And that set me off. I didn’t want to believe it was what it appeared to look like. When I heard her say that, it was like, but it is [what it looks like].”
Authorities haven’t released that security video.
“We should not have to live in a society where we have to fend for ourselves. If I have a question, I should be able to turn to my village and knock on a door and ask a question. I shouldn’t be fearful of a child, let alone a skin tone,” she adds. “This is a decent neighborhood. If anything — why would I knock on your door to rob you?”
“It is just absurd that this happened,” says Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. “I feel terrible for the young man; I feel terrible for the mom and the anxiety that they had to go through. We are going to ask for every charge permissible for this guy, who stepped up and fired a shotgun because someone knocked on his door.”
Right now that man is being held at the Oakland County Jail. He’s expected to be arraigned sometime on Friday.
Sources tell FOX 2’s Randy Wimbley the 53-year-old Rochester Hills man is a retired Detroit firefighter.
Earth to dumb ass black kid! You live in a rich, white, suburb and they saw you, and figured you where there to rob them. I cannot blame them for getting a gun. Now, I will be first to say, the wife and the man overreacted in a big way. However, I believe that the media, Fox News owned Channel 2 here is trying to play this as a racial matter…..and it is BULLSHIT! This kid should have known this could have happened. If he was so worried about getting to school, why didn’t he go to a gas station or somewhere else safe? Why go a strangers house?
This our America today folks, where black people can do stuff like that and if you’re white and you show aggression towards a black, you are going to end up in jail. Welcome to liberal Michigan. In Texas, this wouldn’t even be an issue. But, here, all White people are considered Racist, Gun-Grabbing, Trump lovers. Why I want to move out of here and badly.
President Donald Trump denounced his former top strategist, Steve Bannon, on Wednesday in a dramatic break from the man considered an architect of Trump’s populist campaign.
“When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said in a statement issued after the publication of excerpts of a new book in which Bannon criticizes the president and his family. “Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look.”
Steve Bannon
Photographer: Nicole Craine/Bloomberg
Bannon has lost the access to the president that he’s enjoyed since leaving the White House in August, one person familiar with the matter said.
Earlier on Wednesday, The Guardian published excerpts of a forthcoming book by author Michael Wolff in which Bannon predicts that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will “crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV” over the president’s son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June 2016. Bannon also called Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with the lawyer, in which he expected to receive damaging information on Trump’s election opponent Hillary Clinton, “treasonous” and “unpatriotic,” according to the Guardian.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at a briefing that Trump was “furious, disgusted” by Bannon’s remarks about his son, calling the claims “outrageous” and “completely false.”
Bannon, reached by Bloomberg News, declined to comment on the remarks published by the Guardian. Two people close to him said he wasn’t bothered by the president’s statement. They asked not to be identified discussing Bannon’s reaction.
New York Magazine also published an article by Wolff on Wednesday, based on the book, that recounts a conversation between Bannon and former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes in which the two men debated whether Trump understood the importance of his election.
“‘Does he get it?’ asked Ailes suddenly, looking intently at Bannon. Did Trump get where history had put him?” Wolff wrote. “Bannon took a sip of water. ‘He gets it,’ he said, after hesitating for perhaps a beat too long. ‘Or he gets what he gets.”’
My temptation to giggle at the faux outrage aside. This will have some far reaching consequences and I explain this in my video commentary below:
Is this nutty idea that The President should be able to cancel the broadcast licenses of those in the press that he disagrees with. This is crazy talk and smacks of Hitler.
Here’s a snippet of the story and commentary from HotAir.com:
Yet, there are also plenty of conservatives and libertarian who have criticized Trump for his attack on the MSM. AP and Ed both wrote Trump was wrong in his challenge to the First Amendment. Katherine Timpf at National Review went even further, (correctly) using the “f-word,” as in fascism, in her condemnation.
Let me be clear: Calling for government control of the media is not a conservative view; it’s a fascist one. You’re fine to think that the government should control the media; you’re fine to espouse it — thanks, of course, to the First Amendment that you’re apparently totally fine with jeopardizing — but please understand that this idea is not compatible with conservative, or even traditionally American, values.
There’s no doubt the MSM has raised the dander of conservatives and libertarians, and for good reason. The newscaster plenty of people cite as an example of fair news, Walter Cronkite, wasn’t fair at all. Douglas Brinkley’s book Cronkite, written with participation from the ex-CBS News anchor’s family, showed Cronkite wasn’t biased, especially to Barry Goldwater. There’s also the stupidity of Dan Rather, who pushed the idea ex-President George W. Bush figured out a way to skip out on his service in the National Guard.
These are examples of biased press, and should cause people pause. It’s totally okay if someone decides to find another source for a story because it was written by an outlet which may or may not give someone a fair shot. That’s up to individuals, not the government. Yet, biased press is very much protected by the First Amendment. In fact, biased press is free press, whether it makes conservatives, libertarians, liberals, or socialists happy or furious. Federalists and Anti-Federalists used the press to put out their opinions on whether the Constitution should be approved. Jeffersonians used the press to get their viewpoints out to the masses.
It’s also important to remember it’s not just “conservatives” who have had issues with the press. California Senator Dianne Feinstein suggested only “real reporters” deserved to be protected in a 2013 media shield law (which should just be the First Amendment, but I digress). Her amendment thankfully failed.
But it shows both parties have issues with outlets which don’t give them favorable press, and there are politicians in both parties who want to see the press restricted. All political ideologies, especially those who believe in freedom and liberty, should reject this wholeheartedly.
If President Donald Trump thinks that he can control the media; he is very highly mistaken. I voted for this man; to tackle trade, secure the boarder and straighten out our fiscal mess. I did NOT vote for a fascist. This whole idea smacks of the German Nazi nonsense of the 1940’s and it needs to be stood up to and stopped.
This is America and here, we do not control the press, ever. End of Discussion.
Well, it’s official we’re two days into a massive power outage around here in my neighborhood. This all started yesterday around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, after we had 60 mile an hour winds come blowing through here and the power flickered a few times and finally went out. I’m dictating this to my blog via text to speech on my Galaxy View 18.4. Needless to say I’m blogging via flashlight and accessing the internet via 4G LTE on my Samsung Galaxy S6 phone.
I will keep this short because they mobile hotspot feature on my phone is killing my battery so I will simply say this pray for us here because the temperature is supposed to go down to 26 degrees outside and we have no heat and they’re saying that the electricity around here will not be restored until Sunday. You’re really got to love DTE Energy, which is a union ran Electric Company. I believe that in times like this that the minimum wage that those guys make should be suspended and they should be paid based upon performance and not an hourly wage. I also believe their Union contract should be temporarily suspended until this big power outage is over. I bet that power would get turned on really quick then.
