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Eyewitnesses testify that Oct. 27 shooter made antisemitic statements
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Oct. 27 attack plays prominent role at Eradicate Hate summit By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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An interview with Squirrel Hill parents Sarah and Stan Angrist
the time and therefore should have been given his Miranda warnings and told of his right to an attorney and his right to remain silent. The defendant faces more than 60 federal charges, including hate crime violations and obstruction of religious belief. He was not in the courtroom during the hearing, having waived his right to be there. At issue are a series of conversations between the defendant and officers and medical personnel following two gun battles with police. The defendant made the statements in question while he crawled out of the room to officers; after he reached the officers and had been handcuffed; while being transported from the Tree of Life building to Allegheny General Hospital; and before and after his surgery. Evidence of the defendant’s statements is included in recordings, reports from handwritten notes and video from the ambulance ride that was recorded on an officer’s body camera. Dozens of the conversations and portions of video were played during the hearing. Lead Pittsburgh Police SWAT officer Stephen Mescan said the defendant’s remarks were spontaneous utterances and not the
tanding before a crowd of several hundred, Michele Rosenthal welcomed attendees to the Eradicate Hate Global Summit by remembering her brothers, Cecil and David Rosenthal, who were murdered on Oct. 27, 2018, in the Tree of Life building. Rosenthal’s voice cracked as she recalled her brothers and the events of three years ago. Cecil and David, she said, were good men who lived good lives. She recalled how they were affectionately known as the “mayors of Squirrel Hill,” how they bought flowers for their mother, how they were treated as members of the local fire department and how they often shared a cup of tea with Tree of Life’s custodian. “They did not judge anyone,” Rosenthal said. “Not by religion, color or ethnicity. They are my example, and they should be your example, too. They demonstrated the hearts and actions we want the world to show toward each other. Simple lessons, simple truths, simple love. Simply, let’s all love like the boys.” The massacre at the Tree of Life building loomed large over the summit, which was conceived following the Oct. 27 attack, said University of Pittsburgh chancellor emeritus Mark Nordenberg. Nordenberg co-chaired the summit along with Laura Ellsworth, first partner in charge of global community service initiatives for the law firm Jones Day. “Laura called and said, ‘We need to do something to make certain Pittsburgh becomes better known, not for being the site of this attack, but for its effective and constructive response to hate,’” Nordenberg told the audience. The Eradicate Hate Global Summit 2021, which ran from Oct. 18-20 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown,
Please see Eyewitesses, page 14
Please see Summit, page 14
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LOCAL 535 gifts to Congress
Banner created by students from Baldwin Borough outside the Tree of Life building following the Oct. 27, 2018, attack. Photo by Toby Tabachnick
Irwin Kotovsky honors immigrants Page 3
LOCAL The lessons of Oct. 27
Natan Sharansky on moving forward in the battle against antisemitism Page 4
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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fter murdering 11 people and injuring six others in the Tree of Life building— including four Pittsburgh Police officers — the shooter lay in a room upstairs in the synagogue, according to eyewitnesses who testified at an evidentiary hearing last week. Injured and afraid he would be killed by police — whose guns were trained on the entrance to the room — the shooter began negotiations that would allow him to come out and obtain medical attention, according to law enforcement officers at the hearing. As the shooter crawled from the room, the officers testified, he made antisemitic statements, including, “They’re killing our children. All Jews have to die.” Sixteen witnesses, including several police officers and medical personnel, testified on Oct. 12 and 13 before U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose, at a hearing held to determine whether prosecutors will be permitted to use at trial some of the statements the defendant made the day of the massacre. Defense attorneys want those statements suppressed, claiming he was “in custody” at
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