Names of Pittsburgh synagogue massacre victims released

The chief medical examiner of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County released the names of the 11 victims of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh Saturday.
The victims include two brothers, as well as a husband and wife. The youngest victim was 59 and the oldest was 97. The shooting took place Saturday morning at Tree of Life Congregation, qhich houses three separate prayer services. In addition to the 11 victims, two congregants and four police officers were injured,
Federal officials said in a press conference Sunday that said they were treating the shooting, allegedly by Robert Bowers, as a hate crime. Before entering the synagogue, Bowers posted a message on his website condemning the Jewish refugee aid group HIAS shortly before entering the synagogue.
Bowers entered the synagogue at about 9:45 a.m. and began firing. He was stopped 20 minutes later by police as he was exiting the building. He had an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, as well as three handguns. Officials said he appears to have used all of them.
At a press conference Sunday, federal officials as well as the mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto, expressed sympathy for the victims’ families and solidarity with the Jewish community of Squirrel Hill, the historically Jewish neighborhood where the shooting took place.
“The Jewish community is the backbone,” Peduto said of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. “It is part of the fabric of Pittsburgh and we will be there in all communities to help our friends in the Jewish community. We’ve been knocked down before but we’ve always been able to stand up because we work together.”
“We know that we as a society are better than this,” he added. “We know that hate will never win out.”
Below are the names of the 11 victims of the shooting as announced by Karl Williams, the chief medical examiner of Allegheny County.
Joyce Feinberg, 75
Richard Gottfried, 65
Rose Mallinger, 97
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66
Cecil Rosenthal, 59
David Rosenthal, 54
Bernice Simon, 84
Sylvan Simon, 86
Daniel Stein, 71
Melvin Wax, 88
Irving Younger, 69
David and Cecil Rosenthal were brothers. Bernice and Sylvan Simon were husband and wife.
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