Pittsburgh shooting suspect who wanted to ‘kill all Jews’ was treated by Jewish doctors

According to Allegheny General Hospital President Jeffrey J. Cohen, at least three of the doctors or nurses tasked with keeping Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers alive after he was rushed to the hospital were Jewish.

When Bowers entered the emergency room, he was shouting “I want to kill all the Jews,” said Cohen, who is a member of the Tree of Life Congregation where the 46-year-old allegedly killed 11 people during a weekly Shabbat service this past Saturday.

However, he added in his interview with the ABC-affiliate station WTAE, hospital staff are not there to judge the people brought through those doors.

“We’re here to take care of sick people. We’re not here to judge you. We’re not here to ask ’Do you have insurance?’ or ’Do you not have insurance?’ We’re here to take care of people that need our help,” he said.

Cohen says he stopped by Bowers’ room to see how he was doing, and asked him whether he was in pain.

WATCH: The murders of eight men and three women in Pittsburgh on Saturday is being widely condemned as a hate crime. They were killed while they worshipped in their synagogue, the Tree of Life. As Caryn Lieberman reports, the grief goes far beyond the Jewish community. 

3:03 Pittsburgh mourns the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history

“I stopped to see him, I just asked him how he was doing. Was he in pain, and he said no, he was fine,” Cohen told ABC News. “He asked me who I was. I said ‘I’m Dr. Cohen, I’m the president of the hospital.’ I turned around and left.”

Cohen added in an interview with ABC that, “I thought it was important to at least talk to him and meet him. You can’t on one hand say we should talk to each other, and then I don’t talk to him. So you lead by example, and I’m the leader of the hospital.”

1:46 Holocaust survivor escapes death twice after avoiding Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

• Holocaust survivor escapes death twice after avoiding Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
• Hundreds protest Trump’s visit to pay respects to Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims
• Donald Trump, Melania visit memorial for Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims
• Patients of doctor killed in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting say he was the ‘perfect person’
• Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims to be honoured at UBC vigil
• Members of the Pittsburgh Steelers arrive for synagogue shooting victim’s funerals
• Friends and family attend funeral for brothers killed in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

Previous Video

Next Video

Not only is Cohen a member of the Tree of Life synagogue, he lives so close to the building that he heard the gunshots Saturday morning. His mother-in-law usually attends services there on Saturday mornings, but by chance, she didn’t attend that morning.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The president of Allegheny General says he knew nine of the 11 people killed at Tree of Life on Saturday, but that he hopes to one day forgive Bowers the way relatives of victims killed in 2015 at the Emanuel AME Church forgave that shooter.

1:36 Funerals begin for Pittsburgh synagogue victims

• Funerals begin for Pittsburgh synagogue victims
• Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh CEO won’t be meeting President
• Jewish Family and Community Services will continue work in Pittsburgh refugee resettlement
• ‘We have received offers of support from around the world’: Jewish Family and Children’s Service
• Edmontonians gather to honour victims of Pittsburgh synagogue massacre
• Montrealers attend vigil for Pittsburgh shooting victims
• Vigil held in Peterborough to remember those murdered in Pittsburgh Saturday

Previous Video

Next Video

Bowers, 46, is charged with 29 counts of federal crimes for violence and firearms-related offences. Several of the charges are hate-crime related. In addition, many of the charges may warrant the death penalty.

Cohen adds that he wasn’t alone in the difficult position he found himself in on Saturday, Oct. 27. A Jewish nurse and a Jewish doctor cared for Bowers at Allegheny hospital as well.

The doctor concluded by saying that he felt Bowers was a product of a larger problem in the United States.

“He listens to the noise, he hears the noise, the noise was telling him his people were being slaughtered. He thought it was time to rise up and do something. He’s completely confused,” he told CNN.

Bowers’ social media feeds were rife with anti-Semitic rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

1:36 Funerals begin for Pittsburgh synagogue victims

• Funerals begin for Pittsburgh synagogue victims
• Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh CEO won’t be meeting President
• Jewish Family and Community Services will continue work in Pittsburgh refugee resettlement
• ‘We have received offers of support from around the world’: Jewish Family and Children’s Service
• Edmontonians gather to honour victims of Pittsburgh synagogue massacre
• Montrealers attend vigil for Pittsburgh shooting victims
• Vigil held in Peterborough to remember those murdered in Pittsburgh Saturday

Previous Video

Next Video

In one post on a right-wing Twitter-alternative platform, Bowers said that the Jewish refugee organization, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in,” Reuters and CNN report.

Cohen, however, believes that it’s time to hold leaders accountable for the political climate across the country.

“It’s time for leaders to lead,” he told CNN. “And the words mean things. And the words are leading to people doing things like this, and I find it appalling.”

–With files from the Associated Press.