WASHINGTON- A Pennsylvania man was charged on Tuesday with 19 more federal hate crimes and firearms charges for the October massacre of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.
The new charges against Robert Bowers – who has pleaded not guilty to 44 earlier charges – cover obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs that led to death and injury, committing hate crimes that also resulted in death, and discharging a firearm.
Bowers could face the death penalty if convicted of carrying out the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
Bowers, 46, a Pittsburgh resident, was taken into custody after a shootout with police who responded after a gunman stormed Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue during Saturday services on Oct. 27, and yelled, “All Jews must die.”
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He had made many anti-Semitic posts online, including one early on the day of the attack. In another, he slammed U.S. President Donald Trump for doing nothing to stop an “infestation” of the United States by Jews.
WATCH: Pittsburgh shooting suspect who wanted to ‘kill all Jews’ was treated by Jewish doctors
Federal authorities said Bowers entered the synagogue in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, a heavily Jewish area, armed with multiple firearms, including three Glock .357 handguns and a Colt AR-15 rifle.
The superseding indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury brings to 63 the number of charges Bowers faces.
— Reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington and Peter Szekely in New York; editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot.
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