Feds Seeking Approval to Pursue Death Penalty in Synagogue Shooting

Federal prosecutors are seeking approval to pursue the death penalty against Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers.

U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said he has begun the process to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions' approval to pursue a capital case against Bowers, reported AP.

Multiple search warrants have been issued in the investigation of Bowers, a long-haul trucker who worked as an independent contractor.

Bowers is due to appear in court on the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 29 in relation to the shooting in which 11 people died, including a 97-year-old.

Social media profile photo of Pittsburgh synagogue gunman Robert Bowers. (Screengrab via Gab)

The federal complaint accuses him of 29 counts of federal crimes, including 11 counts of Obstruction of Exercise of Religious Beliefs Resulting in Death.

President Trump on Oct. 27  said that shooters in similar cases involving innocent victims of hate crimes should receive the death penalty. "They should pay the ultimate price," he said.

The president added, “If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. If they had some kind of protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation.”

“They didn’t have protection. They had a maniac walk in and they didn’t have any protection.”

He told reporters that the violence “has to stop.”

Anti-Semitic Posts on Social Media

Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman in Saturday’s mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, is the focus of intense FBI scrutiny, including his trail of hateful online posts and outbursts.

The 46-year-old mass shooting suspect shared anti-Semitic posts on a social media platform in which he claimed that Jews were “the enemy of white people.”

Bowers appears to have been active on alternative social media website Gab, which is popular with people who have been banned or censored from other social media sites. Bowers’ Gab profile said, “Jews are the children of Satan.”

Less than an hour before the shooting spree, Bowers shared a post on the website: “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.”

HIAS is a nonprofit that describes itself as “helping refugees rebuild their lives in safety and sanity.”

The Oct. 27 shooting occurred at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood during a Shabbat religious service.

The full motive for the shooting is still unclear at this time, although a police source told KDKA that the suspect had walked into the synagogue yelling “all Jews must die” before he opened fire.

The 11 people killed in the synagogue included a married couple, Bernice and Sylvan Simon; and two brothers, Cecil and David Rosenthal. Among the dead were also Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Jerry Rabinowitz, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, Irving Younger, and Rose Mallinger.

The Associated Press and Tom Ozimek of the Epoch Times contributed to his report.