Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto rejected President Donald Trump’s idea that an armed guard in the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue would have stopped a mass shooting that resulted in 11 deaths.
‘I don’t think that the answer to this problem is solved by having our synagogues, mosques and churches filled with armed guards or our schools filled with armed guards. I think we’re dealing with an irrational person who acted irrationally. And trying to create laws around that is not the way that we should govern. We should try to stop irrational behavior from happening at the forefront. And not try to create laws around irrational behavior to continue,’ he said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto rejected President Donald Trump’s idea that an armed guard in the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue would have stopped Saturday’s shooting
The president, on Saturday, said an armed guard may have been able to stop gunman Robert Bowers
The president, on Saturday, said an armed guard may have been able to stop gunman Robert Bowers.
‘This is a case where, if they had an armed guard inside, they might have been able to stop him immediately,’ Trump said during a speech to young farmers in Indianapolis.
‘Maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him, frankly. So it’s a very, very – a very difficult situation,’ he noted.
President Trump has also said he wants to visit Pittsburgh and Peduto said that it would be up to the victims’ families as to whether he should attend any funerals.
‘That’s really up to the families themselves. You know, we’re going to be working together as we have. We’ve had good cooperation from the state and the governor. And, you know, this is a Conservative synagogue. So the funerals will be very quickly. As soon as tomorrow. So that’s really up to the families and whether they would want the president to be here,’ he said.
The mayor added that hearts were broken in Pittsburgh over the tragedy.
‘Our city’s a small city. So all communities are connected together. So we understand that an attack against our Jewish community is an attack against our entire city. We’re here right now to help the victims’ families. So that’s, that’s the foremost part of what we need to do. And the second part is to get to the folks who have been injured, our officers and others, and to be able to help them and their families as well,’ he said.
President Trump has said he will visit Pittsburgh but offered no details as to when
Trump said on Saturday he will visit Pittsburgh but offered no details.
The president had strong words in the wake of the shooting.
Trump said on Saturday lawmakers ‘should very much bring the death penalty into vogue’ and people who kill in places such as synagogues and churches ‘really should suffer the ultimate price.’
Bowers, a Trump-hating anti-Semite, regularly complained on social media about the president and ‘the infestation of Jews.’
He allegedly opened fire at the synagogue shortly before 10am.
The synagogue was busier than usual with Sabbath services and because of a baby naming ceremony that had also been scheduled.
After opening fire on the congregation with three handguns and an AR-15, he was confronted by two Pittsburgh police officers who had been called to the scene as he tried to leave the building.
Police say Bowers returned fire, injuring both of the cops, then retreated inside and ran to the third floor to hide.
He then engaged in a gun battle with a SWAT team and injured two of them before being shot multiple times himself and surrendering.
He is still alive, in a stable condition, and is in the hospital under the watch of police.