US President Donald Trump has told reporters that the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue has little to do with gun laws and that the killings might have been prevented if there was an armed guard inside the building.
"If they had some kind of a protection inside the temple maybe it could have been a very much different situation," Trump said to reporters about the shooting at a synagogue on Saturday.
"They didn't and he was able to do things that unfortunately he shouldn't have been able to do," Trump told reporters before getting on Air Force One to fly to Indianapolis for a farmers' convention.
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A gunman killed at least 11 people and injured several in an attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue during a baby-naming ceremony on Saturday, and a suspect was in custody in a possible hate crime, local authorities and media reported.
Trump said the United States should harden laws on the death penalty.
"I think one thing we should do is we would stiffen up our laws with guns with the death penalty," Trump said. "When people do this they should get the death penalty."
Earlier this year after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 dead, Trump said teachers carrying concealed guns could stop attacks.
Vigil held for shooting victims
Huge crowds have gathered in Pittsburgh for the victims of the synagogue shooting.
Vigil organiser Emily Pressman was surprised at the high turnout.
"Looking around I'm extremely surprised but ... by how many people are here. But at the same time I'm not because the community of Squirrel Hill is so close knit that I think that everyone would want to be together right now," Pressman told CNN.
The President will said he will travel to Pittsburgh to mourn with family and friends of the dead.
Trump - who is in Illinois for a campaign rally ahead of key November midterm elections - did not provide details of his trip that comes in the wake of the fatal shooting.
"All of America is in mourning over the mass murder of Jewish Americans," the Republican president tweeted.
