Photo Credit: FBI photo
Robert Gregory Bowers

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the US Department of Justice announced that federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for 46-year-old Robert Bowers of Baldwin, PA.

Bowers is the man accused of slaughtering 11 Jews as they listened to a sermon inside the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood last autumn.

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Bowers allegedly entered the synagogue on Saturday morning – the Jewish Sabbath – on October 27, 2018 and opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle at the members of the congregation.

The accused mass murderer is charged with obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death (counts 1-11), and use and discharge of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (counts 23-33), all of which carry a possible death sentence.

Bowers was indicted in October 2018 on a total of 44 counts, including the charges on hate crimes resulting in deaths. He faces a maximum possible death sentence or life without parole, followed by a consecutive sentence of 535 years’ imprisonment.


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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.