Defense attorney for Pittsburgh synagogue shooter admits he ’caused extraordinary harm’

A lawyer for the man charged in the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history opens her comments in court today by acknowledging that he planned the 2018 massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue and made hateful statements about Jewish people.

Robert Bowers went to Tree of Life synagogue and “shot every person he saw,” defense attorney Judy Clarke says in her opening statement.

Clarke questions whether Bowers was acting out of hatred, or an irrational belief that he needed to kill Jews to save others from the genocide he claimed they were enabling by helping immigrants come into the US.

“He had what to us is this unthinkable, nonsensical, irrational thought that by killing Jews he would attain his goal,” Clarke says, adding: “There is no making sense of this senseless act. Mr. Bowers caused extraordinary harm to many, many people.”