Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Claims Four Lives
A terrible mass shooting has occurred in Pittsburgh leaving four people dead and at least 12 others injured.
The suspect surrendered to authorities shortly after 11 a.m. ET, according to local media reports.
The shooting unfolded at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood while Shabbat services were under way as well as a bris ceremony, according to reports by CBS O&O KDKA-TV Pittsburgh. KDKA reported that police were able to rescue a number of people in the basement of the building but four were killed there.
Erika Strassburger, the city councilwoman for the district that includes the synagogue, the Tree of Life Congregation, said the gunman had surrendered to the police after being barricaded in the building and had been taken to the hospital.
Three police officers were shot but their injuries were not life- threatening, she said.
Saturday’s massacre joins the growing list of recent shooting rampages at houses of worship. In November 2017, 26 people were killed in a shooting at a church in rural Sutherland Springs, Texas. In 2015, nine African-Americans were slain while attending a Bible study class in a racially motivated attack on a church in Charleston, S.C.
“This should not be happening,” Jeffrey Finkelstein, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told KDKA.“This should not be happening in a synagogue. This should not be happening in our neighborhood in Squirrel Hill.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke out about the shooting on Twitter, and said there would be increased security in places of worship in L.A. on Saturday. “LAPD is stepping up patrols around places of worship today and we are reaching out to Jewish community leaders. We mourn with #TreeOfLife community today.”