Jury finds gunman guilty on all counts in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

It was almost a foregone conclusion.

Even defense attorneys for Robert Bowers told the jury that their client did it.

He’s the one who entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, carrying an AR-15 and three handguns.

He’s the one who opened fire in the synagogue’s Pervin Chapel, in the lobby, on the stairs, near the rabbi’s study used by the Dor Hadash congregation, outside the New Light congregation’s sanctuary and in a basement kitchen.

He’s the one who killed 11 people as they began services that day focused on the Jewish tradition of welcoming strangers.

And now he’s the one facing possible execution for his actions.

A jury of seven women and five men on Friday found Bowers guilty of all 63 federal counts against him, including that he killed 11 people at the synagogue because they were Jewish.

The courtroom was quiet as members of the three congregations that worshipped at the synagogue, family members and friends filed into the gallery at 11:37 a.m., some of them gripping blue stress balls.

“Mr. Bowers would you kindly rise and face the jury?” U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville asked.

The defendant, dressed in a dark blue sweater with a light blue dress shirt underneath, stood and clasped his hands in front of him.

As the judge began, Bowers turned toward federal public defender Elisa Long and spoke quietly to her.

Colville then asked the defendant and his attorneys to sit as he began the lengthy process of reading the 27-page verdict form.

It took 14 minutes.

As Judge Colville read each count, one juror repeatedly wiped tears from his eyes. Otherwise, the jurors remained still. The five alternates, who were not part of deliberations, sat in seats behind the jury box.

Bowers showed no reaction as he stared forward or down, not watching the jurors.

At the end, defense attorney Judy Clarke asked the court to poll the jury.

The clerk asked each juror to stand individually.

“Is the verdict as read as to all counts your verdict?”

“Yes,” the jurors answered one by one.

The surviving victims and loved ones of those killed showed no emotion in the courtroom. There were no sobs, no gasps. Only some nodding heads, clasping hands and clutching arms to show their satisfaction in the verdict.

Friday ended the three-week-long guilt phase in the federal trial against Bowers that many people had been anticipating for more than four years. The case next will move into a penalty phase, which is expected to start June 26 and last six weeks.

The government is seeking the death penalty.

During closing statements, the defense admitted that Bowers attacked the synagogue but claimed he was not motivated by the victims’ religion. Instead, they said, Bowers was angry that Dor Hadash, one of the congregations housed in the Tree of Life synagogue, supported the refugee resettlement group HIAS.

Those killed were members of the Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Light congregations.

They included Rose Mallinger, 97; Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69; and Richard Gottfried, 65.

The government prosecuted Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, by citing his deep hatred of Jews and methodically breaking down his intent to kill. Prosecutors said the defendant left behind indescribable death, destruction and carnage and intentionally shredded a trail of evidence left behind him.

He used violence to interrupt religious services that drew 25 people to the synagogue that morning.

The 11 victims killed.

Injured congregants Dan Leger and Andrea Wedner.

Eight uninjured survivors who managed to flee the synagogue: Carol Black, Joe Charny, Martin Gaynor, Audrey Glickman, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, Jonathan Perlman, Stephen Weiss and Barry Werber.

And four people arriving for services who never made it inside: Doris Dyen, Deane Root, Louis Fineberg and Judah Samet.

“Hold this defendant accountable for the worshippers who survived and told you what happened, and hold him accountable for those who could not testify,” U.S. Justice Department criminal section attorney Mary Hahn said in her closing argument Thursday.

In all, Bowers killed seven of the 12 Tree of Life congregants who had been inside the synagogue that morning, three of the six New Light congregants and one of the three Dor Hadash congregants.

He fired about 100 rounds of ammunition, coldly shooting at congregants as he combed the synagogue from room to room, reloading his Colt AR-15 rifle at least twice.

He hunted with precision, shooting six of his 11 victims in the head, one of them execution-style and another at point-blank range.

Bowers made “cold, calculated, deliberate choices” to kill 11 congregants, prosecutors said. They repeatedly used the phrase.

He also opened fire on those responding to frantic 911 calls, seriously injuring four Pittsburgh police officers and nearly killing a fifth.

In a nearly 90-minute-long closing argument Thursday, prosecutors also focused on the interstate commerce aspect of the case. It was a key element of their hate-crime prosecution.

During the shooting, he brandished firearms and ammunition that had crossed state lines to get to him. His gun holsters came from Florida, Texas and Austria.

The internet and social media also played a role. He was an active user of the far-right social media platform Gab. His account activity, when collated into a spreadsheet, ran 19,000 rows long. Gab helped amplify his frequent antisemitic messages and white supremacist tropes.

“Screw your optics, I’m going in,” Bowers posted the morning of the shooting using his Android cellphone.

The defense repeatedly admitted that Bowers committed the acts of violence, but said their client entered the synagogue because he wanted to stop HIAS from murdering children and committing genocide against white people.

While his thoughts had “no basis in truth or in reality,” defense attorney Elisa Long said, “they do give us some insight into Mr. Bowers’ reality — no matter how distorted that reality is.”

Yes, Long said, Bowers caused the violence.

“We told you we would offer no excuse or justification for that,” she said.

But the defense stressed that Bowers was being tried in federal court for hate crimes, not in state court for homicide. Long said prosecutors had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Bowers was motivated by trying to stop anyone’s religious practices that day.

She also said Bowers spent the months leading up to the shooting alienated and alone in his one-bedroom apartment, reading and creating vile content on the internet.