Opening fire in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue this morning, 46-year-old known white supremacist and anti-Semite Robert Bowers killed 11 worshipers, injuring 12 at a Saturday morning service. Bowers was taken into custody after a shootout that left four Pittsburgh police with non-life threatening injuries, something attributable to the skill of first responders. With parallels to the June 17, 2016 slaughter by white supremacist Dylann Roof in the First AME Church in Charleston, N.C., killing 9, Bowers will face murder charges with federal hate crime special circumstances, triggering an automatic life sentence or death sentence. Already on edge from the recently captured mail bomber sending numerous pipe bombs and packages to Democratic icons, elected officials and celebrities,Bowers’ slaughter raises disturbing questions about hate crimes in America.
Law enforcement doesn’t like to speculate about motives but it’s not rocket science to figure out that Bowers was motivated by anti-Semitism. Crime scene reports indicate that Bowers screamed, “Jews must die,” before opening fire on Tree of Life’s worshipers at their weekly Saturday morning services. Most churches and synagogues around the country don’t make use of armed guards at regularly scheduled services, except for NYPD’s heavy security provided to synagogues in New York City “It’s a terrible, terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country and frankly all over the world, and something has to be done,” said President Donald Trump. “The results are very devastating, you’re seeing the numbers come in,” reflecting the death toll. Trump’s been blamed by the media for whipping up passions in his campaign rallies around the country.
Law enforcement officials warned against Trump opining too much on Twitter, fearing it would affect the eventual jury pool. Yet Bower’s rampage triggers hate-crime charges, promising a life sentence or death penalty, regardless of anything Trump says. Trump wondered what would have happened “had some kind protection.” “It could have been a very different situation,” promising to make a formal White House statement. “We must always pray and hope for no more loss of life,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. “But we have been saying ‘this one is too many’ far too long.” “Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harm’s way,” raising the gun control issue, something that emerges after every massacre. Wolf knows that semi-automatic handguns are legal under the Second Amendment, unless otherwise prohibited in certain states and municipalities.
Premeditated mass shooting performed by white supremacists or anti-Semites must be dealt with differently under federal and state laws than other kinds of mass murders. When politics or ideology motivates killings, it’s a different ballgame than garden variety mass killers that suffer from chronic or acute mental illness impacting their decisions. Mass killers like Bowers and Roof fall into the category of politically or ideologically-motivated acts, triggering federal hate crimes statutes. Whatever the death toll in Pittsburgh, first responders, including police and paramedics, face potential post-traumatic stress dealing with gruesome crime scenes. Federal and state criminal laws must deal with the special circumstance of premeditated hate crimes designed to murder ethnic or religious groups. Politically motivated mass killers must be charged and prosecuted differently.
Getting Bowers alive gives FBI profilers an opportunity to put the white supremacist and anti-Semite under the microscope. When the FBI finishes its interviews, they’ll no doubt find Bowers with an extra dose of paranoia, a peculiar form of mental illness worsened by drug addiction. It surprises no one at the FBI to find that Bowers was on methamphetamine or some other illegal or prescribed substance, clouding his deranged personality. Whatever the premeditation with mass killers, there’s usually co-morbidity with alcohol and drug abuse, making the mental illness more lethal. When you add Bowers’ involvement with white supremacist or anti-Semitic Internet forums, it gives poorly adjusted individuals the motive to commit horrific acts. Most white supremacist or anti-Semites don’t commit acts of mass murder or other criminal acts.
Shooting worshipers in Saturday morning services shows the vulnerability of soft targets for domestic and foreign acts of terrorism. Whether schools or houses of worship can be hardened with armed security is anyone’s guess. Places like New York City have the resources to deploy police at synagogues around the five boroughs. In smaller communities like Pittsburgh, it’s left to the religious community to provide its own security. Whether arming churches, synagogues or schools helps to stop gun violence isn’t certain. What’s clear from hate crimes, the White House and Congress should toughen federal laws when it comes to mandatory sentencing. Tougher gun control legislation won’t stop would be assassins from committing acts of mass murder. Federal monitoring social media or Internet hate forums might help intercept hate crimes before they occur.
