Armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and at least three handguns, Robert Bowers, the suspect, reportedly shouted "all Jews must die" as he entered Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Saturday. Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Suspected attacker Robert Bowers

Pittsburgh FBI's special agent in charge of the investigation, Bob Jones, told a press conference that Mr Bowers did not appear to be known to authorities prior to events on Saturday. Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and three handguns, told an officer while he was being treated for his injuries "that he wanted all Jews to die and also that they (Jews) were committing genocide to his people," the affidavit said. Bowers was charged late Saturday with 11 state counts of criminal homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation in what the leader of the Anti-Defamation League called the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Bowers, who had no apparent criminal record, expressed virulently anti-Semitic views on a social media site called Gab, according to an Associated Press review of an archived version of the posts made under his name. Gun debate

The shooting immediately reignited the longstanding national debate about guns: U.S. President Donald Trump said the outcome might have been different if the synagogue "had some kind of protection" from an armed guard, while Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf called the incident "a serious situation" and asked people to "keep the congregants and law enforcement in your prayers." One of the worst, and I've been on plane crashes"

Eleven people have been killed, officials say, in a gun attack on a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote in a condolence message to President Donald Trump that "this abhorrent crime reminds us all to do what is in our power to advocate against hatred and violence, against anti-Semitism and exclusion, and to counter with determination those who incite them." Robert Gregory Bowers killed eight men and three women inside the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday during worship services before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him, police said in an affidavit, which contained some unreported details on the shooting and the police response. A Brandeis University study of the Greater Pittsburgh area's Jewish community reportedly found that more than a quarter of the area's Jewish community lived in Squirrel Hill.
A gunman opens fire at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing at least 11 people.