Said this was one of about a dozen synagogues in the area . I would say roughly in the Squirrel Hill area, i dont know the exact number today but i would say it is close to that. Okay. Im sure the Pittsburgh Police and the Allegheny County police are on that part of the case. Howard feynman thank you for that. For awful you, welcome i am alex witt live at msnbc headquarters in new york. It is high noon on the east coast. If you are just joining us we want to bring you up to date on the breaking news we are follow. At least eight to ten people are dead in a shooting in a pittsburgh synagogues. The suspect is believed to be a 46yearold man. He is now in custody. The suspect was reportedly armed with an ar15style rifle as well as multiple handguns. Reportedly, a total of 12 people have been shot. That would include three Police Officers. The cite of this heinous incident, The Tree Of Life synagogues in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of pittsburgh. It is home to one of the largest
synagogueses in the area. The attack is believed to be a hate crime. Pennsylvania governor tom wolfe has arrived on the scene. The president is also expected to speak this hour on this. He already tweeted about this with his concerns. I am join right now by nbc justice correspondent Pete Williams. Pete, whats the latest on this from your Vantage Point . It apparently happened at about 10 30 when a man armed with what Authorities Say is an assaultstyle weapon, an ar 15 style weapon that can fire semiautomatic rounds entered the synagogues also potentially carrying a handgun, and opened fire. He was in there for a time. We dont know how long. Came out. Had his first engage men, we believe, with Police Officers, who were responding, went back in, and subsequently came back out where he was arrested. We believe he may be wounded. Hes a 46yearold man. We think hes from pittsburgh. We are not giving his name until
we are certain of the identity. And we dont know anything further about him. We havent found any social media or anything to indicate a possible background here. But according to the authorities, he did make some antisemitic comments. So it would seem to be clearly a hate crime. We believe that 12 people in all were shot. Presumably all by the gunman although that has yet to be determined. Three of those people were Law Enforcement. Their wounds vary in severity. And we are still waiting for clarification on the number of fatalities. But it is a large. No it it is a large numbe. Its somewhere between eight, nine, or ten. Any time Something Like this happens in a American City where you have an attack on a defined target the police in new york do what they do. They say now they are deploying heavy weapons teams across houses of worship across the city of new york even though this is no indication this is anything other than a local threat. Thats what they do in new york when there is any kind of a threat to a defined target. Understandably so. I know, pete, we did hear from the president via tweet. We know that he will in all likelihood make a statement in the hours. He has two rallies today. He said earlier, watching the events unfolding in fitzpatrick, pennsylvania, Law Enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Likes like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God bless all. Looks like he knew there were multiple fatales. In terms of closing down the actual site, we know there are three stories in this building,
three different areas were being used for worship on a Sabbath Morning. They will have to continue for quite some time because we are not sure that the suspect didnt do Something Else like plan an explosive device. That of course being the topic of conversation on everybodys minds throughout this entire week. So you expect it will take some time before the actual location of The Tree Of Life synagogues will be cleared . Even if there were no reports of suspicious packages and there are. I have gotten no confirmation from the federal authorities i have talked to who are assisting the police there no indication there has been a confirmation of that. Thats a complicating factor. Even without that it would take some time to clear the building. Authorities are doing two thing. They want to make sure whether or not anybody else was involved. They have got to check that out. They also have to check to see if there were any other victims. You have to add to that that somebody inside has seen a suspicious package. You have to check into that and that delays the process as well. If there is a hazardous device there, they will clear out all the people who are clearing the building and then they will get the bomb squad in or the right people to look at that. As we look at these pictures, we have to be careful to look at whats live and whats tape play back. We see pictures of people running inside as if they are responding to some sort of emergency. It is tough to tell from these pictures what is live like these pictures of people running in. What is live and whats tape playback. I think we have to be careful to mark the tape as tape and not live picture. Because the live picture is clearly what we are looking at here, where the situation does appear to be over in the sense that there is no more shooting. But now the clearing of the building is still the top priority. To your point, pete, the picture that we are looking at right now, it is live. And we dont see anybody running quickly. It would seem that if they were inside that building, there were officials in there trying to clear it of any potential issues, that would be a very painstaking process and going on, you know, literally foot by foot throughout that building. May i ask you in your role as our justice correspond end if this is deemed to be officially be denoted as a hate crime how does that change the equation at all for the suspect, who is in custody . Well, it is an additional possible charge. But i mean, if there were fatalities as there certainly are, then he is undoubtedly going to be charged with murder. So a hate crime would potentially be a sentence enhancement. You know. And i think the other possibility is that it opens up the possibility of federal jurisdiction since murder is not a federal crime, but there are federal hate crimes. Uhhuh. So that raises the possibility there could be a
federal charge as well. Normally in these situations the federal authorities would defer to the states and to the locals because it is their people who were the victims. So they have perhaps the greatest interest in seeing justice served. But it does raise it is a double thing. It is a sentence enhancement. And possibly raises the issue of federal jurisdiction. But thats way down the road. Yeah. Pete, we ask you to stay with us. I am going to go now to shawn henry, a former executive at the fbi and an msnbc analyst. So, shawn, we are just getting word i was showing this as pete was talking. Sources say The Tree Of Life synagogues has just now been secured and cleared. Lets talk about this totality. It was a twohour long onslaught when you talk about the level of carnage here. Talk about the efficacy in which police got on the scene did their job, considering there was a man with an arstyle weapon,
handguns that left eight to ten people in his wake. Police officers were shot. The police being there was critical to having this mitigated quickly. You may have had many more people injured or killed had this assailant been able to run throughout the synagogues undeterred by the responding Police Officers. When you say that the facility is secure, it may be secured in terms of we have been able to determine also no other suspects there. Perhaps there are no other devices there. But this will be an ongoing crime scene because there will be a very sensitive crime seen search looking at where rounds from shot, trajectory of the bullets, et cetera, when victims were hit. There will be a very extensive review there in that particular case. Let me add to something that pete said as well, that this will be looked at primarily by the local police. This will likely be a joint Terrorism Task force response. There appears to be fbi agents there the scene. I couldnt tell quite by looking here. But certainly Pittsburgh Police department is a heavy major player in the pittsburgh joint Terrorism Task force f. The fbi or federal authorities dont have actual jurisdiction, if its determined that they are going to iallow it to go to the locals, they will absolutely be providing assistance to their Pittsburgh Police partners. When you have Police Officers who have been killed, people who may have been killed in what may be a hate crime, the fbi will be providing resources from a tech knick and perspective, from an investigative prospective, providing enhanced resources and capabilities to ensure that that crime scene is secure, they have collected as much evidence as they can and this hear the providing continued intelligence for the Ongoing Investigation to determine what was the cause, what was the motive, who else may have been involved in the course of this particular incident or additional incidents that may have been planned a part of this. I imagine the investigation
is underway already into who this person s. He has been in custody for a short period. We had reports that he was injured and surrendered to police there. That part of the investigation is underway. But the reaction say of the n. Y. P. D. Now, without any sort of i guess claims or threats or anything against anything in new york city, yet they still feel the need to go out and offer some protection to different jewish synagogueses or places of congregation on this sabbath day. Thats probably not new york exclusive. I would think there are other cities probably doing the same thing taking a page from this and wanting to keep their citizens safe. I think thats right. In an abundance of caution law enforce innent are going to take proactive measures to ensure if there is a threat, something occurred elsewhere, that there might be a copycat, might be some other threat. Again just as a precautionary measure not necessarily saying there is a particular threat but just to give citizens a sense of comfort. You have got people that are worshipping all over the country today on the sabbath that you
will have Law Enforcement that respondsing and providing a level of comfort and security to those that are participating in services. Shawn, thank for being here in the studio with me. Joining us now, joe ruben, a member of The Tree Of Life synagogues. This must be very, very difficult for you to witness as it was for Howard Feynman who we heard from earlier who grew up in that synagogue. Yes. Three synagogues actually share that space right now. This morning, there was a baby naming. I have had my three daughters named there in a similar saturday Morning Service of baby naming. The shooter said all jews must
die as he shot indiscriminantly. It is a place of peace and worship, and of love, and family. And it is despicable. Its something that there just arent enough words to describe. Talk about that community, that neighborhood. It looks positively beautiful, singlefamily homes. Im told that it has a number of synagogues in the area. I mean, talk about what it is like there. It seems bucolic and lovely. Squirrel hill is one of the gems of urban america. It is a neighborhood that is thriving in the heart of the city of pittsburgh. It has been a place for families to raise children. But its also ban center for Economic Vitality of pittsburgh and where families during the steel industry, academic
carnegie Mellon University is right down the street. It is a multiethnic neighborhood. It is one that is, yes, very religiously diverse. In terms of the Jewish Community, its known nationally. Its one of the primary jewish communities in the country. Squirrel hill, as a neighborhood, has been long a leader of jewish life and activity. The synagogues are diverse. They are reformed jewish, conservative jewish, orthodox jewish, all different strains within that. The synagogues there who are coexisting comfortably together. You can be there on a saturday morning and see very religious jews walking the neighborhood streets alongside secular jews who may be going to play basketball at the Jewish Community center, the jcc which is large facility right not
heart. And it is a really fantastic urban neighborhood. People just choosing how they want to spend a beautiful saturday morning met with this kind of crime. It is absolutely extraordinary. So these three different areas within the synagogue, you are familiar with it enough that is there one that is the general congregation area, and that there may be separate gatherings for different sort of religious focus . Do they put children in one area . Can you explain that . Sure, typically in the larger synagogue in particular there are multiple venues for prayer. There may be a main sanctuary which is the largest but then there are also side sanctuaries that are smaller where typically you may have a Youth Service going on on shabat. Sorry. So, yeah. Its tough, isnt it. It brings back a lot. Yeah. There are multiple places to worship. And there is three synagogues there sharing the place. So the place is just packed with life, in all different corners. And im sure there are a lot of kids hanging out, not going to services, sitting in the stairwell. And then there are oler families celebrating the baby naming. When you have a Life Cycle Event like a baby naming or a wedding or a bar or bat mitzvah, you attract larger crowds than normal. Normally a shabat service when there is no Life Cycle Event will draw a crowd. But when there is a Life Cycle Event it becomes a magnet of activity and there will be after the service likely a lunch buffet. Just a lot going on there on a saturday morning. I know this is a tough day for you. Thank you for phoning in. We may get back to you. Lets go to wpxis David Johnson
who is on the scene and listen to what he is reporting. We almost surely know someone inside that building. There was, as i think aaron martin has confirmed, and i heard this from the rabbi, there was whats known as a bris, a ceremonial circumcision that was going on there. That would bring a few more people into the building. Okay. Im understanding from the photographer shes going to zoom in. We are getting reaction here. A large crowd, not just media but other residents who are gathered around here kind of waiting for word from us. And kind of Word Of Mouth on what is the latest as we are waiting for an additional word. Again you just saw Governor Wolf and senator casey walk by. They are being briefed. And as we understand it we are just a couple of minutes away from getting an official briefing. We will have that for you live on channel 11 when it does happen. But thats the latest right now
here at the corner of North Cumberland and murray. Only three or four blocks away from the synagogue in Squirrel Hill. Back to you. Everybody, that was David Johnson of our affiliate wpxi giving a report for the local news audience there. I am joined again by shawn henry who is skin joining me in studio. You are getting updates via texted. N. Y. P. D. Has deployed marked units to synagogues throughout the city. Marked units. Thats a statement. Providing a force, providing comfort and security to those inside those facilities. You have people reporting to houses of worship going in today. We listened to howard and joel just talk. They are congregants inside this sick synagogue. Think about how emotional it is for people gathering for these types of events. I listened earlier to malcolm and Jim Cavanaugh. And they talked about the most
recent incidents this week with the mailings. And this particular incident. And while certainly we have seen a lot of the rhetoric that has been somewhat insightful and this kind of tone around the country it is really too early to connect these two incidents. I dont think people should jump to these conclusions. They very well may be some type of a relation. Maybe not. The investigators are going to follow the leads. They are going to follow the facts. This will be a very thorough investigation. And at the end of the next couple of days, they will have a very good sense because they have got a sub in custody. They will be Exploiteding Social Media and devices Like Computers and telephones. Yeah. They will come up with a lot of information to determine what the motive is. And we will see if it is connected or not. But i think it is much too early to presume that thats the case. Lets talk about the word connection, shawn, because, yes, from a forensics standpoint, from an fbi, your standpoint, investigation, these two may not be connected in terms of
actualities and forensics or whether the two suspects knew each other. That that kind of thing. But just the tenor, the discourse, the divisiveness in this country right now. Is it fair to say that that has permeated the atmosphere and that is something that raises alarm bells within the fbi, win local Law Enforcement, thus having to deploy marked cars, uniformed Police Officers, to places of worship on a Sabbath Morning . Of course. When you get what may be considered by some to be a permissive environment where this is perhaps condoned, of course. We talked earlier this week when we were looking at the mail Bombing Campaign about copycats, people who might see whats occurring. And they were on the edge. And what pushes them over the edge, people that are engaged in this type of activity, it doesnt just begin typically one day they are a lawabiding citizen and the next day they are an active shooter or they
are mailing bombs. That typically doesnt hatch this is typically a long process over months or years that takes place. There may be a defining moment that causes them to go from aspirational to active. In addition to looking to see if there are other coconspirators aligned specifically with this incident, they will be looking to determine the motivation and what they can learn going forward. I want to bring Clint Van Zapt back into the conferring and wear your hat as an fbi profilar. I am going to tell you that i have a name in front of me. I will not release this persons name. I can say that it is a male. That is allegedly the suspect that is in custody. But when you look at the profile of somebody who would commit a crime like this, potentially a hate crime, shawn makes the point that these things usually dont just happen overnight. The sentiments are fermenting for quite some time. Speak to that and how you look at that in the investigation. Well, we have said for years, both for our school shootings, violence in the workplace and others, that a shooter or individual doesnt just snap. He or she has a period that builds up. Again, shawn is absolutely right. We have seen these individuals anywhere from just a matter of weeks to a year and a half or longer. The columbine shooters, the two teenagers from columbine in 1999, planned a year and a half before they carried that off. And we see others take that long, too. But you know, i will also say that when you are planning it, you need some emotional initiator. Just like on a bomb, you need something to set that bomb off. In the human mind you need something to set you off. I am prepared, i have the guns, i have the ammunition, i know what my target might be. But why today . Why not yesterday . Why not next week . There is some emotional initiator. And many times, that can be a recent events. Its the aha phenomenon. Aha, now i know what to do, when to carry it out. As we talked earlier, there have been over 275 Mass Shootings in the United States, four or more people shot in the same shooting. So there are plenty of examples, unfortunately, in this country of an individual, if he or she wants to act out and use a weapon as a form of conflict resolution, those examples are there. All they need to do is initiator, something in their brain that says today is the day, go forward and murder. And thats what happened this morning. In terms of those weapons, lets bring in Jim Cavanaugh into the conversation again. Jim we are told there was an arstyle weapon. I believe you have identified it as a long gun, using that vernacular. Also two handguns were found on the suspect who i want to reiterate, he surrendered and he was allegedly injured. Actually, jim, hold that thought one moment. We will get back in with wpxis dave johnson who is on the scene live. We have been waiting to hear from police. We heard from them about 45 minutes ago and we are i am looking back there and seeing if there is any movement. So nothing right now. And i am not sure who these gentlemen are. But when we have that, we will bring it to you right away right here on channel 11 news. Obviously, we are going to get word from police, what exactly has happened, what they know about the shooter. Anyway, this is moments away. Come on through. Thats all right. It is a hectic scene here, obviously. So when we if you want to come through, come on through. Come through. No problem. We are just feeling like it is seconds away. Obviously, we want to get the official word, the very latest for you. When we get that, we are going to bring it to you live. Stay with us here on channel 11. There is obviously a lot of great concern. When we hear numbers like eight dead, it is just unbelievable and terrifying and shocking. But we want to get all those details from police, from them officially. So i will send it back to you right now with that. We appreciate wpxis David Johnson there. He said reports of eight dead. We have also heard that that number may go up to as many as ten. David very wisely waiting to get official confirmation, which he expects at any time. We are of course going to be watching that camera for you as well. Back to you Jim Cavanaugh and the weapons that were used in this attack on The Tree Of Life synagogue. How easy is it to get a long gun, an arstyle weapon . Is there any sort of i mean, what kind of hoops does anybody have to go through to get a weapon like that . Well, if you are not a prohibited person, a convicted felon or a fugitive from justice or anything you can buy it, buy it at the store. Buy it on scene and take it home right away . And or buy it from a private citizen. Very easy to acare. I would like to add onto the conversation you had with Clint And Shawn. Shawn, uhhuh. I spent my whole life working on these kind of guys. I wanted to book end your discussion with clint talking about it is a usually a slow roll to the radicalization and the hate crime. I would book enyou two case. Dylann roof, who radicalized in the white hate movement by himself on the web and killed everybody at Mother Emmanuel Church in charleston, africanamericans and frasier glen miller. This was a guy we knew about for
years, years in Law Enforcement. He killed three people at a Jewish Community center in 2014. And he was 73 years old. Now, dylann roof was in his 20s. Frasier glen miller was 73 years old. And he had spent his whole life in the ku klux klan. He started the white the white patriot party. He was convicted on Firearms Violations in the 80s in a plot to kill morris steves. More sis a friend of mine. I am glad he is still working hard against these guys. Miller wanted to kill morris des in the 80s. In 2014 he shot up a Jewish Retirement Center in Overland Park kansas and he killed three people. There you have got a guy here is 46 years old. Antisemitic, goes in with the three guns. Just like shawn and clint are talking, we have seen some guys that it takes them a lot of
years before they really decide that the talk is not enough for me, the cross burnings are not enough for me, the Storm Front Website is not enough for me. I have got to do something, i have got to act. I mean their hate just boils out of them. Unfortunately, Clint And Shawn and a lot of us old agents and cops, you know, we came on, really just right post 60s into Law Enforcement. When we came on it was just the Smoke Wasnt Out Of The Air from these bombings in the civil rights movement, and the killings in the klan. When i came on, we were all working heavily on the klan and the nazis. The fbi was, atf was. These guys always had guns and bombs and were making attack. It was a very busy our whole life spent working on these people. And they kind of got tamped down in the 70s. You know, the witnesses were on our side. Everybody was on our side. And really, i have never seen this feeling like it is today, the talk that you see in mainstream areas is antiset antisemitic talk. The code words that they use. International bankers is what the white hate guys always talk about. The rockets childs, and the false jewish conspiracy that drive this is antisemitism. And you see the talk getting out in the mainstream with little caveats to it like globalism or bankers over here. So it is it kind of morphs back and forth. It is too close to normal talk. I have never seen it this close. Before it was condemned. And now its just permeates like nothing we have ever seen. I mean this is the closest time i have seen to that time in the post 60s in the civil rights era. Its just it feels like its
come back again with all these Hate Crime Attacks in the last few years, and this sort of crackpot Conspiracy Theories that take hold. I mean these things take hold in otherwise normal people. I mean, can you imagine people believing i have had people tell me this, you know, in the street, that they think Hillary Clinton murdered people. They think about they think there is a Pedophile Ring beneath a pizza parlor. This stuff is so crackpot yet people get fed a steady drip, a steady drip of this from certain media and it takes hold in their brain. And you cant convince them it is not so. They believe its so. So thats a danger where we are in america, the way that talk has reached that level. Yeah. I am sure we are going to find this guy has been a real hater. It is an extraordinary thing, jim, when you have to compare these days with those of the civil rights, which were very, very difficult times that this country survived. But thinking we may be even worse todays. Jim cavanaugh thank you for that. You are watching an nbc Special Report on the deadly shooting at the synagogue there in pittsburgh. I am alex witt. We are going to stay tuned to all of this. We expect the president to potentially make a statement. We will give you that coverage on msnbc. It is the bottom of the hour here at msnbc world headquarters. I am alix with it. We have been on the hair for close to two hours now covering a pretty terrible event that has happened in a suburb of pittsburgh, pennsylvania. The Squirrel Hill area, where The Tree Of Life synagogue was attacked. We believe that at least eight, perhaps as many as ten have been killed in this shooting at the synagogue. There is a suspect in custody. We are not releasing his name as of yet. But we are identifying him as a 46yearold man. We know that he was injured in
the melee and that he ended up surrendering to police there. Lets go right now to nbcs Pete Williams, who has the latest, our justice correspondent joining us from d. C. On the phone. We have been making an effort to try to confirm the name. We have heard this now from several Law Enforcement organization has the man thats been arrested is rob bowers, rob bowers, bowers, of pittsburgh. 46 years old. Has a pittsburgh address. And we have seen it ourselves. And Law Enforcement officials have also directed us to it. A number of antisemitic comments made on social media, and some comments about an Organization Called hias, hias, which helps to bring in refugees. And bowers on the social media
makes a number of comments that are both antisemitic and also saying that there is ana need to act in some unspecified way before hias is able to bring in more people that he calls hostile invaders to dwell among us. This seems to be the person who is responsible for this, has been not only made antisemitic comments at the time of the shooting afterwards, but has also been making antisemitic comments on the website and saying that something had to be done before hias brought in refugees. Okay. Pete, im not familiar with hias. Do you know where that group is based . We can have our researchers try to get information on hias for us. I am sorry i have to cut away and do Something Else. But i wanted to get that information to you. Nbcs Pete Williams has given us the name of the suspect. Rob full name, resident bowers. We believe him to be from the North Versailles community there in pennsylvania. A 46yearold man. We understand he was injured in the incident today and surrendered to police just a short ways away from the site of the attack, The Tree Of Life synagogue there in the Squirrel Hill area of pittsburgh. We are keeping a very close look at Andrews Air Force base and the rain. There you see it now, the president is on the way to rallies. We are told he may make a statement on what has been happening this morning. He tweeted about it. Kelly odonnell joins us from the white house with a look at what the president said earlier. Kelly, the expectation is the president will indeed make a statement on this incident. Yes. Alex sources are telling me the president intends to speak as he is getting ready to board the
air force one aircraft heading off to indianapolis and later murphys burrow, illinois. Sources tell me the president has been monitoring development. He tweeted a sorttime ago. His second tweet on this issue where he acknowledged things are much worse than he initially and as all of us have observed today. It is a grave situation. We expect the president to comment about this. How this will likely work here, you can see the president ial limousine there. There is a group of reporters who are members of the pool who are assigned on a rotating basis. We are seeing now a shot here. We hope given the weather circumstances the live capability. We are following closely the events of Squirrel Hill. I will be speaking and making a statement at the farmers of america. You see what we are doing the future farmers. They have the big conference. And we will be going there. I guess some of you will be going with me and we will be making a major statement. It is a terrible terrible thing Whats Going On with hate in our
country, frankly, and all over the world. And something has to be done. Something has to be done. But it looks like the results are coming in, and they are far more devastating than anybody originally thought in the morning. In the morning they thought that it was a shooter, but they had the shooter or they soon would. But the results are very devastating. You are seeing the numbers come in. We will be speaking to you at the conference, the Future Farmers Of America conference. And its just a shame. To watch this, and to see this for so many years, so much of it, is absolutely a shame. Do you have any questions . Mr. President , do you think you need to revisit gun laws . Talk up, please. Gun laws, gun laws, mr. President. Well, again, this has little to do with it if you take a look. If they had Protection Inside,
the results would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist, i suspect. But if they had some kind of a Protection Inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation. But they didnt. And he was able to do thing that unfortunately he shouldnt have been able to do. I hear the police were outstanding. I heard the police did an incredible job. As you know, Numerous Police were badly injured. But, again, Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. But we will have a very complete statement for you with the results that are coming in of what took place, how it took place. Again, law, enforcement was outstanding as always. I mean, as usual, and as always, Law Enforcement was really outstanding. They stepped up to the plate. But pittsburgh, great community, incredible people. I spoke with the governor. I spoke to the mayor. To see this happening again and again and again is just a shame. Mr. President do you think there is anything you can do since it happens again and again and again to end this kind of violence . Well, it is a violence thats look at the violence all over the world. The world has violence. The world is a a violent world and you think when you are over it it just sort of goes away. But then it comes back in the form of a madman, a wacko. I think one thing we should do is we should stiffen up our laws in terms of the Death Penalty. When people do this they should get the Death Penalty and they shouldntv to wait years and years. Now the lawyers will get involved and everybody is going to get involved and we will be ten years down the line. I think they should stiffen up the laws and i think they should very much bring the Death Penalty into vogue. Anybody that does a thing like this to innocent people that are
in temple or in church we have had so many incidents with churches they should be they should really suffer the ultimate price, they should pay the ultimate price. I have felt that way for a long time. Some people disagree with me. I cant imagine why. But this has to stop. So we are going to have a statement at our stop with the young farmers. Mr. President , towards the beginning of your presidency, you met with the nra, you said maybe you were the president who could help solve this. Do you see that now as a possibility . It is a case where again, nobody knows exactly what took place yet. Its too soon. But if there were a case where if they had a armed guard inside they might have been able to stop him immediately. This may be a case for if there was an armed guard inside the temple they would have been able to stop him and there would have been nobody killed except for him, frankly. So it is a very, very very difficult situation. When you look at it, we can look
at it two ways. Again, if they had somebody to protect people now, isnt it a shame that you even have to speak that way . Isnt it a shame that we even have to think about that inside of a temple or inside of a church . But certainly, the results might have been far better. I would like to follow up with you. Do you think that all churches and synagogues should have armed guards . I hate to think of it that way. I will say that. I hate to think of that. So we will see you with the future farmers. Is that what you are suggesting . It is certainly an option. In this world, this is a world with a lot of problems. And it has been a world with a lot of problems for many years. Many, many years. And you could say, frankly, for manien is centuries. I mean you look at what goes on. Certainly, you want protection. And they didnt have any protection. They had a maniac walk in. And they didnt have any protection. And that is just so sad to see. So sad to see. The results could have been much
better. It is a very, very it is a very difficult thing. For me to stand as president and to watch any of this go, you know, before i ran for office, i would watch instances like this with churches and other things, i would say, what a shame, what a shame. It is even tougher when you are president of the United States and you have to watch this kind of a thing happen. It is so sad to see. We will see you at the with the young farmers. A lot of them are out there. Do you think there is anything you can do with the nra . Earlier this year we are always talking. We are always talking with the nra. All right. The president there making a statement, and sharing his thoughts about things though saying a more fully prepared statements will be come from the Future Farmers Of America rally that he will be holding in just a short while. No doubt he is trying to give a lot of thought to this as will
his Speech Writers and communications counsellors. This is something that the president has tweeted about twice today. And we have to acknowledge it may weigh very heavily on him given the fact that his soninlaw Jared Kushner is both Ju Herb By Culture and also by practicing faith. And his daughter ivanka has also joined the jewish faith in practice. And they are raising their children in a jewish faith home and they do not watch television. They keep certain sacraments on the sabbath. The sabbath day is the day that The Tree Of Life dong grags was attacked, that synagogue in Squirrel Hill pennsylvania. We know at least eight are dead. As many as ten potentially. Three Police Officers included in those who were shot. A total of 12 shot. The numbers are still coming through here. Interestingly, i want to break down some of the things the president said. To do that i am joined by andy carr, former bush chief of
staff. The president got into a few points there that would certainly be the kinds of things discussed in the oval office one of them being that he believes the Death Penalty needs to be a lot stiffer. He said he didnt like the fact that ten years from now we would still be talking about this. You get lawyers involved and the like. Then he went off in the way that he describes things, a bit rambling, but that was the point that he made. Are you surprised by that . Well, this is a tough time for america, and it is a tough time for the president of the United States. These are terrible burdens that a president has to carry. Hes carrying a burdenan right now. I do a duburden right now. I think it is important that we understand what happened and understand what the potential mitigating circumstances could have been. Yes, there will always be a debate about punishment and there will be a debate about guns. I dont think it is inappropriate to have that debate. I dont know that we know enough to say what would have been prevented this attack. I do think this is a terrible day. My wife is a member of the
clergy. On the sabbath day to have Something Like this happen, this is terrible for marrying. I think the president should be consoling us, expressing deep concern for the nature of culture that invites this terrible type of action. We dont need hate language. We dont need stirring the pot of hatred and causing people who are probably unstable to do thing that no logical person would do. That may be the case here. We just dont know enough about it. It is a tough day for the president. A tough day for the people in Squirrel Hill, pennsylvania. I know that area. This is not what america is about. And we have got to set a kinder climate in this country to mitigate this from happening. And people should be paying attention to eacher to. If they see a problem alert us to it. Alert officials to it long before it manifests into Something Like this. I guarantee there was someone that saw this gentleman and said he is a troubled man, and we might have been able to prevent it that way as well. Andy i am going to ask you to
stan by. I have another question i want to ask of you, right now we are joined by wpxis aaron martin joining us by the phone. Whats the latest. We are waiting on a News Conference from different city and state officials we are told will be starting momentarily. It has been active over the last 90 minutes or so. We have had a lot of people coming on the scene to see what is happening. Squirrel hill is a neighborhood where there is an awful lot of synagogues a lot people. A lot of people have been coming up and asking Whats Going On. They said they are likely to know people inside the synagogue. I just spoke with a rabbi who had a congregation inside that synagogue. He told me as many as three congregations were likely meeting there this morning. We heard there was a chance there was a bris going on as well. There was a lot of people inside, potentially more than you would have on your normal saturday morning. That of course makes the situation even more difficult. But a lot of the information thats out there right now we are hoping to get clarified in the next couple of minutes when the News Conference begins. Aaron, i want to have you look around and tell me what you are seeing there. We have reports of when all of this was underway around 10 30 or so, there was someone who is a resident, not part of the congregation was about to step out of his home to go about his saturday morning business, and he was ushered back inside by s. W. A. T. He said he saw about 30 police cars there. You can imagine. You have talked about the chaos and just the challenges of trying to get ahold of what is happening when you have an active shooter situation. Whats it like right now, some twoplus hours later . It is definitely much calmer now than it was a couple of hours ago. I came on the scene ten minutes after that. I live not far from here. It was as many police as i have ever seen in this area. Police officers from other agencies as well who responded very quickly. There were s. W. A. T. Vehicles coming in. S. W. A. T. Personnel. Right now we are starting to see it calm down a lot. We have seen a lot of vehicles leave. We just saw a couple s. W. A. T. Members that are just kind of casually walking back to their vehicles. So it is definitely a much waumer situation in terms of the much calmer situation in terms of the police presence. A lot of police are still here that i believe are still working the scene. We are two blocks back from the synagogue right now. But it is definitely a active scene still. We have been told that the building itself has been cleared. We have had shawn henry here formerly with the fbi but he said that doesnt mean that the investigation is over with that particular facility. Cleared would mean there is nothing more active, nobody else in the face of danger at this point. How about the local citizens . You can imagine, aaron, and you being a Community Resident yourself, you said you werent far away i mean what does this do to shake the fears of people on a beautiful saturday
morning . They have to be in shock right now. Yeah. Theres no doubt about it. I mean, this has shaken the entire community. It is unnerving seeing the Community Like this. Because Squirrel Hill is a very nice community, a very quiet community. Very large jewish population. Saturday morning you are seeing a lot of people walking to services at synagogue and things of that nature. It is a you know, this whole area is very active normally on a saturday morning where a lot of people are out. And just to see Something Like in speaking to residents, they say you always in the back of your mind fear Something Like this to happen but you never imagine it could happen in your own place of wore shichl thats what they are dealing with right now. Its just a real it is a surreal scene. I dont know any other way to put it. It is extraordinary that statement that you said about people see these thing happening and you can never imagine it happens in their own backyards. Yet it repeats itself over and over again. Over 200 Mass Shootings in this country, categorized as any one, more than four people having been shot. Which is a tragic number in itself. Of course today we are adding to that. The suspect is 46yearold rob bowers. Are you hearing anything about him . Quickly before we go to your colleague David Johnson. We havent heard anything directly about it. I briefly asked the former rabbi who used to be over at the synagogue and have a congregation there. He said he hadnt heard that name before. Okay. We just heard it within the last couple of minutes. We are working to find out more about it now. Okay. Aaron martin thank you so much for that. David johnson of wpxi. A former past president of the Congress Grags we interviewed earlier before. He had not heard this name. Sometimes when you are in a position like a rabbi or a Congress Grant who is in
position of authority and you see these postings and you hear sometimes the rantings of people, quite probably like this, you might remember a name if it pops up over and over. Again, as i have been asking people, they have not heard this name. The suspects name. I did want to check that. Thats one of the things i wanted to bring you. I am checking behind me here. So far, no movement. We were told many minutes ago that there would be an update on what has happened, how many people have been hurt, how many fatalities, how the injured are doing, how this all went down, and possibly more information about the suspect. We are still waiting for that. The media is gathered here. A number of people who are from the area are concerned. We have so many people just from the neighborhood. Peggy, you have been talking about this, you know, its quite likely they know people inside. I believe i will know somebody
inside. So there is a great air of anticipation right here right now at the corner of murray and North Umberland in Squirrel Hill. Just a few blocks away basically in that direction where the synagogue is. I will send it back to you. David, catherine and joe asked me, i will ask you the same question, can you remember anything like this . I think of Richard Bomb Hammer he is, who was it . Rodney taylor. Do you remember a story like this in pittsburgh . No. You have to go back to those two incidents. I think they happened in that one year, around the year 2000, where we have a mass shooting in pittsburgh. And then the shocking nature of this on a saturday morning, on a sabbath day for the Jewish Community. Shabat where there was a ceremonial service, we understand, a bris, a ceremonial circumcision of an 8dayold
boy. There were people gathered in there. But to answer your question, especially in the city of pittsburgh i cannot remember Something Like this. It is a terrifying, terrifying thing for people as i look at them now, and their faces for them to hear about in and to realize it happened across the street, around the corner from them, in their own community that peggy you have been describing as one of the great, great neighborhoods in this area. People love to come here. It is just a wonderful, wonderful place. To have this happen here is just an utter shock. Yeah, and david, tell us more about your Squirrel Hill. This is your neighborhood. You live here. You raised your boys here. Tell us about that neighborhood and how shocking Something Like this is. It is just something you would never expect. I cant even describe it. I walk past that synagogue. I drive past it literally every day. I drive past that synagogue. I walk past it. I have riddan my bike past it. The Childrens Institute is right across the street. Thats the corner of wilkins and shady, one of the major intersections in Squirrel Hill. I love this neighborhood. It is a beautiful neighborhood. It is a great mix of people. Christians, jews, muslims, others. So many, so many people who have moved in here. You have the influence of University Of Pittsburgh and cmu. I am just checking to see if anybody is coming behind me. The movie theaters, the restaurants, the stores, the houses, the feeling of real neighborhood. We have Block Parties here where we close off the streets. We just had one on my street, which is only a few blocks away. Its just its i understand that the Public Safety director, wendel historic is coming right out to speak to us. We are going to get an update. Peggy, back to your question, its just when i moved here in 1985, i knew, and i actually lived in another neighborhood at the time, i knew i wanted to be in Squirrel Hill. This is the place i wanted to be. I wanted my children to go to school here. They did. They went to high school not far from here. So it is a place, like so many around the country, that they just dont think this can happen here. Thats what we think in Squirrel Hill. Okay. David, yeah, im going to let you get ready for the next leg all right, everybody. Thats what we are going to do as well. We will wait to get the official word from the Public Safety officer who should be coming to the microphone to give us the details and fact and figures we are always straining to get in these kinds of situation. Anderson ecarr, former bush chief of staff. I want to get back to something the president said. I know you were listening as he was about to Board Air Force one bound for a rally. He talked about the hate in our country, the hate in the world and how despicable it is. But he suggested that were there to have been somebody with protection as he described it inside of that religious house that perhaps that would have mitigated the carnage that we are seeing. That perhaps the only person who would have been injured if not killed would have been the shooter himself. It is a thought that not only is a thought, but it has been put into practice by many congregations around this country of various faiths when they feel the need to either bring in police protection, hire offduty Police Officers, and or, sir, train their own members to take shifts, to operate one various sunday or sabbath, and be out in a lobby area to protect those that are inside just worshipping. I would just like you to speak to that and to the difficulties that it presents just processing the need for this . It is certainly not a world that i want to have become a reality. I think it would be very, very strange if i were to go to my wifes church and there would be an armed guard at the door. It is not what we are used to. It is not what we should have. I am not sure it is the right solution but look, everything should be on the table. We should talk about everything. It should be situational. You know, a situation in New Hampshire would be different than a situation in new york city or i dont understand. Squirrel hill is a fortunate i dont know well, but i have been there a couple of times. It is not a place that i would have thought Something Like this could have happened but it happened there. I dont know the right answer. I do think the rhetoric that is used by most of our elected leadership should be very careful in how they use it. And you know, i dont like insightful language. I dont like insightful actions that would cause people to take the wrong step. I am not sure it is intentional when the relate rick is offered. But when the rhetoric is offered. But some people are listening and say i am going to react in a negative way that would be harmful. I want people to be careful with rhetoric they lose, especially our elected officials. Not just the president , but other elected officials as well, both parties. It is important for us to have language today that is respectful that causes people to participate in our democracy in a good, clean way. I want people to come and vote. I want people to have the courage to run for office. I want people to be respectful of people who serve in government even they they may disagree with some. Policies they articulate. That is what america is about. I want a calming voice to lead our country. I am hoping the president s voice will be one of those calming voices. But it should be an echo on both sides of the aisle on the political spectrum. It should all be talking about the need for us to value life, to value respect, and value dialogue that and value the reality of a democracy that can
talk about things without being angry. Well said andy carr. My last question to you, sir, as we listen to the president answering a few questions before boarding air force one, would you have advised him to either make a more i guess definitive statement on his thoughts, or would you have suggested that he wade into these different areas rather freewheeling as the reporters were asking him questions . How would you advise the president to handle things this morning . I think offer calming language, language of concern, language of sincere sympathy and empathy for the challenges that our community is going to have. Think of this community in Squirrel Hill, pennsylvania, and what they are going through. Think of the families, think of the people who were inside the synagogue that witnessed this, think of the victims and their families. Thats the empathy that i would like to see. I thought the question from a reporter talking about gun control was not very appropriate
at this time. Thats not the time to have that debate. And certainly, you wouldnt be able to solve that problem overnight anyway. So i this is a time for reflection, for telling people that we will stand together and lets show a little bit more love and compassion and try to help everybody out. Andy card, again, well said, simple thank you for weighing in. We appreciate your insights. Shawn henry, oncen again to you. You have spent over a couple of hours sitting here with me as we have been breaking down this story. Shawn, you have gotten nuggets of information. How does social media play into all of this . I will once again say the suspects name because it is now out there, 46yearold rob bowers. Hes of North Versailles, pennsylvania. It is a suburb there of pittsburgh. What happens next in the investigation . You know, Law Enforcement officers, the pd in pittsburgh, as well as the fbi and others are going to be looking for the motivation here, what was the cause of this, what have the impetus, what did we know . Were there signs are there signs offing in coming forward later that he had planned or with other coconspirators. I looked at the alleged shooter resident bowers social media. It appears to be his social media. It has been taken down by twitter. There were antisemitic rants. Do you know how long it had gone back. It appears a couple of months. One as recently as the last couple of days. He has been talking about hias, apparently a jewish refugee organization. And he talked about the invaders and that we cant make America Great again as long as we have this infestation. Jewish infestation. Interestingly he appears to have made antitrump rants saying trump is a globalist and not a nationalist. He is antitrump, and that he actually voted against trump or didnt vote for trump
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