Liberty Counsel extends condolences to the families and friends of the victims of Saturday’s shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. Authorities have identified the 11 people killed in Saturday's mass shooting. The ages of the victims ranged from 54 to 97.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the victims,” said Mat Staver. “This horrible crime has devastated a peaceful community. We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters and condemn this anti-Semitism.”

Robert Bowers entered the Jewish synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood Saturday morning and fired at people worshiping inside as he screamed, “all Jews must die.”  He continued these statements during his gunfight with police, with Bowers telling one officer: “They're committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews.” Bowers surrendered and was taken into custody.

Bowers was a regular user on a social media website called Gab. On Friday, Bowers posted a link to a page from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a Jewish nonprofit that aids refugees. The HIAS link listed congregations across the country that held Shabbat services this month for refugees — including several synagogues in Pittsburgh. In a post on Saturday morning, about two hours before the shooting, Bowers wrote: “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in.” 

In the weeks before the shooting, Bowers posted constantly about Jews, including denials of the Holocaust and conspiracy theories about Jews destroying the planet and secretly supporting the migrant caravan heading toward the U.S. border. Many of the posts included slurs for Jews and cartoons with stereotypical depictions of them. The profile shows that Bowers posted or recirculated dozens of anti-Semitic messages in the past few weeks. Those included two cryptic warnings hours before he allegedly opened fire in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue.

During a rally in Illinois Saturday night, President Trump said, “This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us.”

The shooting happened after Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader and anti-Semite who has praised Hitler, recently called the Jews “termites,” a term Nazis used to dehumanize Jews. He further accused Jews of destroying everything good about the world. Farrakhan later posted a segment of a speech on Twitter with the caption: “I’m not an anti-Semite. I’m anti-Termite.”

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