Shortly before 10 a.m. on Saturday, a gunman opened fire inside Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The victims ranged in age from 54 to 97; two brothers and a husband and wife are among the dead. Authorities are treating the massacre as a hate crime as they investigate the suspect’s history of anti-Semitic online screeds.
N.Y.
PENNSYLVANIA
OH.
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
N.J.
MD.
100 MILES
279
19
Tree of Life
synagogue
Pittsburgh
376
376
2 MILES
N.Y.
PENNSYLVANIA
OH.
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
N.J.
MD.
100 MILES
279
19
Tree of Life
synagogue
Pittsburgh
376
376
2 MILES
N.Y.
Pittsburgh
OH.
PA.
279
Philadelphia
19
N.J.
MD.
100 MILES
Pittsburgh
Tree of Life
synagogue
376
376
2 MILES
N.Y.
Pittsburgh
OH.
PA.
279
Philadelphia
19
N.J.
MD.
100 MILES
Pittsburgh
Tree of Life
synagogue
376
376
2 MILES
Three congregations were holding services at the synagogue on Saturday when the shooting started at 9:45 a.m., according to Stephen Weiss, of Squirrel Hill, and Chuck Diamond, a former rabbi at the synagogue. Details from an affidavit originally obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette show the following happened next.
1. Witnesses report hearing the first shots in the lobby. Some escape through the sanctuary and the chapel.
Pervin Chapel
Room for up to 240 participants
Main
sanctuary
1,250 seating
capacity
SHADY AVE.
Ballroom
Entrance
WILKINS AVE.
Main entrance
2. Police receive the first call at 9:54 a.m. When they arrive, they confront the shooter somewhere near the entrance, and he opens fire on the officers.
3. A small SWAT team follows the shooter farther into the building and discovers the dead and injured. SWAT medics and officers extract the victims.
4. The shooter goes to the third floor, where he is found by officers. He opens fire on them and hits one officer multiple times. A firefight ensues, and the shooter is wounded.
Third floor
5. At some point, the shooter comes out crawling. He has an assault-style rifle and three handguns.
1. Witnesses report hearing the first shots in the lobby.
Some escape through the sanctuary and the chapel.
Pervin Chapel
Room for up to 240 participants
Main
sanctuary
1,250 seating
capacity
Ballroom
SHADY AVE.
Entrance
WILKINS AVE.
Main entrance
3. A small SWAT team follows the shooter farther into the building and discovers the dead and injured. SWAT medics and officers extract the victims.
2. Police receive the first call at 9:54 a.m. When they arrive, they confront the shooter somewhere near the entrance, and he opens fire on the officers.
4. The shooter goes to the third floor, where he is found by officers. He opens fire on them and hits one officer multiple times. A firefight ensues, and the shooter is wounded.
Third floor
5. At some point, the shooter comes out crawling. He has an assault-style rifle and three handguns.
1. Witnesses report hearing the first shots in the lobby. Some escape through the sanctuary and the chapel.
Pervin Chapel
Room for up to 240 participants
Main
sanctuary
1,250 seating
capacity
Ballroom
SHADY AVE.
Entrance
WILKINS AVE.
Main entrance
3. A small SWAT team follows the shooter farther into the building and discovers the dead and injured. SWAT medics and officers extract the victims.
2. Police receive the first call at 9:54 a.m. When they arrive, they confront the shooter somewhere near the entrance, and he opens fire on the officers.
4. The shooter goes to the third floor, where he is found by officers. He opens fire on them and hits one officer multiple times. A firefight ensues, and the shooter is wounded.
Third floor
5. At some point, the shooter comes out crawling. He has an assault-style rifle and three handguns.
1. Witnesses report hearing the first shots in the lobby. Some escape through the sanctuary and the chapel.
Pervin Chapel
Room for up to 240 participants
Main
sanctuary
1,250 seating
capacity
SHADY AVE.
Ballroom
Entrance
WILKINS AVE.
Main entrance
2. Police receive the first call at 9:54 a.m. When they arrive, they confront the shooter somewhere near the entrance, and he opens fire on the officers.
3. A small SWAT team follows the shooter farther into the building and discovers the dead and injured. SWAT medics and officers extract the victims.
4. The shooter goes to the third floor, where he is found by officers. He opens fire on them and hits one officer multiple times. A firefight ensues, and the shooter is wounded.
Third floor
5. At some point, the shooter comes out crawling. He has an assault-style rifle and three handguns.
5. At some point, the shooter comes out crawling. He has an assault-style rifle and three handguns.
1. Witnesses report hearing the first shots in the lobby. Some escape through the sanctuary and the chapel.
Pervin Chapel
Room for up to
240 participants
Main
sanctuary
SHADY AVE.
1,250 seating
capacity
Third floor
Ballroom
Entrance
Main entrance
WILKINS AVE.
4. The shooter goes to the third floor, where he is found by officers. He opens fire on them and hits one officer multiple times. A firefight ensues, and the shooter is wounded.
2. Police receive the first call at 9:54 a.m. When they arrive, they confront the shooter somewhere near the entrance, and he opens fire on the officers.
3. A small SWAT team follows the shooter farther into the building and discovers the dead and injured. SWAT medics and officers extract the victims.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, this was the deadliest attack against Jewish community in U.S. history. The number of anti-Semitic incidents skyrocketed in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available.
Anti-Semitic incidents sharply rose in 2017, spiked in the beginning of the year
Anti-Semitic incidents per year
since 1980
1,986
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
‘17
1980
‘90
‘00
‘10
Monthly count of incidents since
Jan. 2016
208
250
200
150
100
50
0
Dec.
2017
Jan.
2017
Jan.
2016
Anti-Semitic incidents sharply rose in 2017, spiked in the beginning of the year
Anti-Semitic incidents per year since 1980
1,986
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
‘17
1980
‘90
‘00
‘10
Monthly count of incidents since Jan. 2016
208
250
200
150
100
50
0
Dec.
2017
Jan.
2017
Jan.
2016
Anti-Semitic incidents sharply rose in 2017, spiked in the beginning of the year
Anti-Semitic incidents per year since 1980
Monthly count of incidents since Jan. 2016
1,986
208
2,000
250
200
1,500
150
1,000
100
500
50
0
0
2000
2017
1980
Dec.
2017
Jan.
2016
Jan.
2017
Anti-Semitic incidents sharply rose in 2017, spiked in the beginning of the year
Anti-Semitic incidents per year
since 1980
Monthly count of incidents since
Jan. 2016
208
1,986
2,000
250
200
1,500
150
1,000
100
500
50
0
0
‘17
Dec.
2017
1980
‘90
‘00
‘10
Jan.
2016
Jan.
2017
Anti-Semitic incidents sharply rose in 2017, spiked in the beginning of the year
Anti-Semitic incidents per year
since 1980
Monthly count of incidents since
Jan. 2016
208
1,986
2,000
250
200
1,500
150
1,000
100
500
50
0
0
1980
1990
2000
2010
2017
Dec.
2017
Jan.
2016
Jan.
2017
Laris Karklis, Aaron Steckelberg, Brittany Mayes, Tim Meko, Kevin Uhrmacher, Gabriel Pogrund, Manas Sharma, Kyle Swenson and Chiqui Esteban contributed to this report.
About this story
Chart data from the Anti-Defamation League.
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