In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the US Department of Justice announced that federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for 46-year-old Robert Bowers of Baldwin, PA.
Bowers is the man accused of slaughtering 11 Jews as they listened to a sermon inside the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood last autumn.
Bowers allegedly entered the synagogue on Saturday morning – the Jewish Sabbath – on October 27, 2018 and opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle at the members of the congregation.
The accused mass murderer is charged with obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death (counts 1-11), and use and discharge of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (counts 23-33), all of which carry a possible death sentence.
Bowers was indicted in October 2018 on a total of 44 counts, including the charges on hate crimes resulting in deaths. He faces a maximum possible death sentence or life without parole, followed by a consecutive sentence of 535 years’ imprisonment.