First victim of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting named as Dan Stein, 71

Dan Stein, a grandfather who regularly led services for the New Light congregation at the Tree of Life synagogue, was named late Saturday as one of the victims of a deadly shooting rampage by an anti-Semitic gunman during morning services.

Authorities do not plan on releasing the names of all 11 victims until 9 a.m. Sunday morning (3 p.m. Israel time), but Stein’s family said he had been at the synagogue and they had been unable to reach him all day.

“He was attending services at the synagogue like he does every Saturday, and next thing you know there’s text going around about an active shooter in Squirrel Hill at Tree of Life synagogue and we couldn’t get a hold of him,” Stein’s nephew Steven Halle told local media. “The phone calls just kept going through and he wasn’t picking up.”

Stein, 71, was a retired plumbing supplies salesman and lived with his wife in Squirrel Hill. He had two children and a grandchild.

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“This is going to be a horrible loss for the baby growing up without a grandfather,” said Halle. “We’re still trying to get everything together with my aunt and my cousins. It’s really hard right now.

“He was a great guy. Everybody loved him,” he said.

Stein was a former president of New Light, which was one of three groups using the Tree of Life synagogue on 10 a.m. Saturday morning when shooter Robert Bowers came in with a rifle and three handguns, raining bullets on congregants.

He was said to have attacked a baby’s circumcision ceremony, though no children were hurt in the attack, according to reports.

Stein was the president of the congregation’s men’s club, according to the New Light website.

“He was very active and he did everything,” Halle said. “He was there every Saturday for services.”

Daniel Legar, who was slated to lead services for one of the congregations and was tasked with opening the doors, was also shot in the attack, though his brother said doctors were cautiously optimistic he would pull through.

Legar, 70, is married and has two sons. He is a nurse and chaplain at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and is listed in critical condition.

Another person taken to a hospital, a 61-year-old woman, was listed as having soft tissue injuries that needed to be cleaned.

Four of the six injured were police officers, according to authorities, including one person who has already been released from the hospital.