Sunday 28 October 2018

He should pay the ultimate price': Trump calls for swift death penalty for synagogue shooter who is charged with killing 11 and injuring six as he orders White House flag to be flown at half-mast

He told reporters on Saturday that gunman Robert Bowers, and other people accused of similar sickening crimes, should not wait on
death row for 'years and years' and should be executed 'quickly' and 'without legal wrangling.
Trump then told a crowd at a rally in Murphysboro, Illinois, that the 'evil' shooting was an 'assault on humanity', and ordered all flags at federal buildings across the country to be flown at half-staff as a sign of respect.
Bowers has been charged with 29 felonies, including 11 counts of murder and hate crimes, for storming the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday morning and gunning down helpless members of the congregation worshiping during their Sabbath.
The other counts include weapons offences and charges alleging Bowers seriously injured police officers while obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs.
Daniel Stein, who had recently become a grandfather, was identified as the first of the the eight men and three women who were murdered while worshiping.
The suspect, who spewed anti-Semitic hatred on social media in the hours before the attack, also shot and wounded six others, including four police officers who ran into the building while he was spraying bullets from the third floor. 
He has also been charged in state court, and if found guilty would be eligible to receive the lethal injection in Pennsylvania and by the federal government.  
The federal government reinstated the death penalty in 1988. Since then, the government has put to death three convicts. There are currently 62 prisoners on death row awaiting execution.The charging documents were not immediately available in a federal court records database. Prosecutors have scheduled a Sunday morning news conference to discuss the case.
Scott W. Brady, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, announced the charges late Saturday, about 12 hours after they say Robert Bowers opened fire inside the Tree of Life synagogue. 
Earlier on Saturday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the federal government would seek the death penalty.
President Donald Trump echoed that sentiment, though he doesn't believe that gun control would have prevented the tragedy.
Trump said gun control 'has little to do with it' but 'if they had protection inside, the results would have been far better.'
But the attack did not persuade him that tighter gun controls are needed.
'This is a case where, if they had an armed guard inside, they might have been able to stop him immediately,' Trump said during a speech to young farmers in Indianapolis. 
'Maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him, frankly. So it’s a very, very - a very difficult situation.'
In previous mass shootings, Trump has at times said he would consider tightening gun laws but in the main has called for more armed guards in places such as schools.
'The world is a violent world,' he said before his speech. And you think when you’re over it, it just sort of goes away, but then it comes back in the form of a madman, a wacko. ... They had a maniac walk in and they didn’t have any protection and that is just so sad to see, so sad to see.'
Trump said lawmakers 'should very much bring the death penalty into vogue' and people who kill in places such as synagogues and churches 'really should suffer the ultimate price.' 
Bowers, a Trump-hating anti-Semite, regularly complained on social media about the president and 'the infestation of Jews.'
He allegedly opened fire at the synagogue shortly before 10am. 
The synagogue was busier than usual with Sabbath services and because of a baby naming ceremony that had also been scheduled.
After opening fire on the congregation with three handguns and an AR-15, he was confronted by two Pittsburgh police officers who had been called to the scene as he tried to leave the building. 
Police say Bowers returned fire, injuring both of the cops, then retreated inside and ran to the third floor to hide. 
He then engaged in a gun battle with a SWAT team and injured two of them before being shot multiple times himself and surrenderingPeduto said there was 'really strong insistence by the FBI that we identify everybody with 100% accuracy before giving out any information, for the families' sake.'
The mayor said security was being tightened at Muslim places of worship as well as religious centers that 'would feel insecure or would need additional security.' 

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