Pittsburgh synagogue shooter sentenced to death

A federal judge on Thursday formally sentenced Robert Bowers to death, the day after a jury determined it was an appropriate punishment for the crime. In 2018, Bowers killed 11 people and wounded six others at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The American Jewish Committee called it the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. If even one jury member had voted against sentencing Bowers to death, he would have been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

How common is a death sentence? Bowers’ case is the second federal death penalty case to be prosecuted and the first federal death penalty to be sentenced under the Biden administration. In the other case, an Islamic terrorist who drove a U-Haul truck to kill eight people on a New York City bike path was sentenced to life in prison.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in WORLD Magazine about Jews sharing the gospel as fear of antisemitism grows.