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These are the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

The victims of the Pittsburgh shooting have been named.

Cecil Rosenthal (pictured left), Daniel Stein (pictured centre) and Jerry Rabinowitz (pictured right).

Cecil Rosenthal (pictured left), Daniel Stein (pictured centre) and Jerry Rabinowitz (pictured right). Source: New York Times, WXPI and CNN

Pittsburgh has been rocked after Saturday's shooting at a synagogue killed 11 people, including a 97-year-old, two bothers and a couple in their 80s.

The victims

The suspected gunman Robert Bowers is charged with killing eight men and three women, aged 54 to 97, all from the Pittsburgh area.

They include several people who would have been children during the Holocaust and rise of Nazism.

County medical examiner Karl Williams identified them as:

Joyce Fienberg, aged 75.

Joyce Fienberg was the wife of the late Stephen Fienberg, a well-known statistics professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Richard Gottfried, 65.

Richard Gottfried was a dentist who served patients who did not have insurance or were underinsured, according to the New York Times.

“He loved working with our patients, uninsured patients, including a lot of refugees and immigrants," Susan Kalson, from the Health Centre, said.

Rose Mallinger, 97.

Rose Mallinger was the oldest victim and was the "sweetest, lovely lady" according to a Tree of Life congregant of the synagogue.

Ms Mallinger was formerly a secretary in a school in the neighbourhood.

An interfaith candlelight vigil a few blocks away from the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
An interfaith candlelight vigil a few blocks away from the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Source: Getty Images

Jerry Rabinowitz, 66.

Jerry Rabinowitz came from Edgewood Borough, Pittsburgh, according to authorities.

Rabinowitz, a physician, was described by a patient, former deputy district attorney Law Claus, as "a trusted confidant and healer who could always be counted upon to provide sage advice," reported WPXI.com.

Jerry Rabinowitz.
Jerry Rabinowitz. Source: CNN

Brothers Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54.

The brothers were from Squirrel Hill.

Suzan Hauptman, who grew up at the synagogue, told CNN that the brothers would remain in their hearts.

David Rosenthal (pictured left) and Cecil Rosenthal (pictured right).
David Rosenthal (pictured left) and Cecil Rosenthal (pictured right). Source: The New York Times

"They were like the ambassadors because they were always there," she told CNN.

"And they will always be there in our hearts."

Bernice Simon, 84.

Sylvan Simon, 86.

Daniel Stein, 71.

Daniel Stein, who recently became a grandfather, was a regular at the synagogue, TribLive reported, part of a conservative congregation that shared space there.

Daniel Stein was named as a victim of the shooting.
Daniel Stein was named as a victim of the shooting. Source: WXPI

Melvin Wax, 88.

Irving Younger, 69.

 

Pure evil

FBI Special Agent Robert Jones allege Bowers was armed with an assault rifle and three handguns. Jones added that he did not know why Bowers picked that particular synagogue for his alleged attack.

Authorities believed the suspect entered the synagogue, murdered the worshippers and was leaving when he encountered a uniformed police officer, Jones said. The pair exchanged gunfire, Jones said, and shooter re-entered the building before a SWAT team arrived.

Bowers was taken to a hospital where he was listed in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

Federal prosecutors charged Bowers late on Saturday with 29 criminal counts including violating US civil rights laws.

Bowers had made many anti-Semitic posts online, including one early on Saturday.

In another, he slammed US President Donald Trump for doing nothing to stop an "infestation" of the US by Jews.

A social media post by Bowers on Saturday morning said a Jewish refugee organisation, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, "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".

US Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat who is Jewish, said on Sunday the country needs to combat a climate of hatred and division that he said President Trump helped foster.

"Honestly I think this president's whole modus operandi is to divide us. He gets up in the morning with new and inventive ways to divide us," Schiff said on CNN's State of the Union.

On Saturday, Mr Trump called the shooting an act of pure evil and called on Americans to rise above hatred.

KDKA television in Pittsburgh cited police sources as saying Bowers walked into the building and yelled "All Jews must die."


4 min read

Published

Updated

Source: SBS



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