Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life rabbi: ‘I heard him execute my congregants’

The rabbi of the Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were shot dead in an anti-Semitic attack on shabbat, said Monday that his community “will rebuild” in the wake of the massacre.

Recalling the harrowing moments of the Saturday morning shooting in an interview on the “Today” show, Jeffrey Myers also called on US President Donald Trump and other US leaders to “tone down rhetoric” and take action against hate.

Two days after entering the Pittsburgh synagogue and opening fire on worshipers, Robert Bowers was due in federal court Monday afternoon to face 29 hate crime charges that could lead to the death penalty.

Myers said he first heard the sound of crashing metal during the Shabbat service on Saturday and thought one of his older congregants had fallen or a coat rack had toppled over. When he realized it was gunfire, he ordered everyone in the sanctuary to drop to the floor and remain silent, hoping that the wooden pews would protect them from the bullets.

He told Israel’s Hadashot TV: “I instructed my congregants in the back of the sanctuary to drop to the floor, to hide behind the pews which are very thick wood, and be quiet and don’t move. The people that were in the front, I tried to quickly escort out of the sanctuary… and leave from the back.”

“I went up into the choir loft, and I heard him execute my congregants,” he told AP. “I didn’t watch. I couldn’t watch.”

He told Hadashot he didn’t see the killer and didn’t hear him shout, and that “the only shouting I heard were the shouts of my congregants as he killed them.” He said he would not forget the sounds for the rest of his life.

Myers told AP that he immediately fled upstairs, called police and hid inside a bathroom.

“For a moment I felt like I’m standing in a cemetery and this is a massive mausoleum. It’s my home and it’s been desecrated,” he continued.

He said his community was in “a combination of shock, grief, disbelief, mourning, all rolled into one, as we still cope with this tragic loss. I have seven dear people to bury, so we’re doing the best we can to make sense of this in some way.”

Myers said he would be willing to sit down with Trump to talk about the shooting. “The community would welcome his presence here, because he is our president… This has nothing to do with politics in America. This is hate,” he told Hadashot TV.

Some have been accusing the president of inciting the hatred in the US that led to the shooting. “There is hate, and it isn’t going away. It just seems to be getting worse,” Myers said to AP.

“We turn to the leaders of our country,” he added. “We’ve got to stop hate and it can’t just be to say we need to stop hate. We need to do, we need to act, to tone down rhetoric. Hate is not welcome here in Pittsburgh. It should not be welcome in our borders at all.”

Asked by Hadashot TV whether he would now recommend immigration to Israel, Myers said “I don’t what the answer is to the challenges and questions. It’s going to take a lot more time for me to digest what has happened.”

Bowers is accused of carrying out the 20-minute rampage in the Squirrel Hill house of worship out of a deep-seated hatred of Jews, sowing terror as he moved through the three-story synagogue, mowing down people who were just arriving for Saturday morning services in what is described as likely the worst ever attack on the US Jewish community.

Bowers was charged with 11 state counts of criminal homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation.

He apparently posted an anti-Semitic message on a social media account linked to him just a few minutes before he opened fire. He expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and later told police that “I just want to kill Jews” and that “all these Jews need to die,” authorities said.

Bowers shot his victims with an AR-15, used in many of the nation’s mass shootings, and three handguns, all of which he owned legally and had a license to carry, according to a law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation, and who spoke Sunday on the condition of anonymity.

Myers said his synagogue “can’t be used again in its present condition. The bullet holes are too numerous to count, but we will rebuild because we’re Tree of Life. We’ve been here 154 years and you can cut off some branches, but the tree will continue to grow, and we will be back.”

Agencies contributed to this report.