Pittsburgh witnessed another incident of gun violence in America. The venue was a synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood and the gunman was in his mid-40s. He had in his possession an AR-15-style assault rifle and three handguns and allegedly shouted anti-Semitic statements before opening indiscriminate fire to kill 11 and injure six. It happened in the morning during a regular Saturday service and there were no security guards in the place of worship. It is the worst attack on Jews in the history of the country.

Washington Post reports that Pittsburgh has a large and close-knit Jewish community, and the authorities have labelled it as a hate crime.

The gunman is a resident of the city, and his identity is established. It seems he posted anti-Semitic statements on social media before unleashing terror on unsuspecting innocent individuals. The FBI says his name is new to law enforcement agencies.

There is no end to gun violence

Political, religious and civic leaders have condemned this incident of gun violence in Pittsburgh and have vowed to support the Jewish community.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has expressed his concerns and said that such acts of violence are not the culture of America. President Donald Trump has also denounced the massacre. He suggested “a more frequent and speedier use of the death penalty.” He added that presence of armed security guards in the synagogue could have prevented the tragedy.

While addressing a rally in Illinois later, he described the attack as an “assault on humanity/”

In spite of the best efforts of the administration, there is no letup in incidents of gun violence. The suspect in Pittsburgh carried a semi-automatic assault-style weapon similar to that used by the gunman who killed 49 people in Orlando in 2016.

The present attack brings back memories of another one in a place of worship. It happened last November in a church in Texas and the gunman intended to kill one person but ended up killing 26. Obviously, there must be strict gun control laws to ensure that weapons of this nature do not fall into the wrong hands.

The gunman was a loner

According to Fox News, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said that the FBI is investigating the shooting as “a hate crime.” The authorities believe the suspect gunman was a loner and police in New York and Los Angeles have indicated that they would be deploying extra teams to synagogues and Jewish locations throughout those cities to reassure the residents. Out of the six persons injured in the shooting, four were law enforcement officers. Two of them belonged to the police and two more were SWAT team members. All four of them are in stable condition.
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