Accused Tree of Life shooter’s statements can be used in court
A federal judge has ruled that antisemitic statements made by the Allegheny County man accused of killing 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill in 2018 can be used against him at trial.
Donetta W. Ambrose, a senior judge in the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, issued a ruling denying a motion from Robert Bowers, who is being held in the Butler County Prison, to suppress statements that he allegedly made after he was taken into custody.
In her 33-page opinion, Ambrose found that Bowers was in police custody, but hadn't been read his Miranda rights when he made the statements in response to police questioning; statements made by a defendant during custodial interrogation are generally not admissible in court.
However, she sided with prosecutors who argued that the questions officers asked were prompted by a concern for public safety and meet the public safety exception to the Miranda rule.
“The responding officers were at significant risk as were those congregants still hiding in the synagogue. Indeed, at least three officers were wounded during their response to Tree of Life.
“To ensure the safety of the officers at the scene and the surrounding community, they needed information about the quantity and location of firearms, whether any explosive devices had been placed at the synagogue or elsewhere, and whether Bowers acted alone or with collaborators or accomplices as part of a larger attack.
“The questions officers posed, including those relating to why Bowers surrendered and why he engaged in the attack, served those purposes,” Ambrose wrote.
Bowers’ attorney and prosecutors argued their position on the motion during an evidentiary hearing Oct. 12 and 13, about three years after the incident.
Pittsburgh police began receiving reports about an active shooter at the synagogue at 9:55 a.m. Oct. 27, 2018.
Reports from dispatchers led police to believe multiple shooters were involved. Allegheny County police, state police, the South Hills Area Government Council SWAT team and the North Hills SWAT team were called in to assist.
As officers fanned out to search and clear the building, they encountered deceased victims, injured and uninjured congregants, a spent magazine and rifle casings covered in blood.
At 10:53 a.m., several officers pushed into a classroom, where, unbeknownst to them, Bowers was hiding. Bowers and the officers allegedly exchanged gunfire leaving two officers injured.
Officers applied a tourniquet to the arm of one officer and SWAT officers dragged the other officer, who had gunshots to his arm, leg and head, out of the hallway and down the stairs to the medics. Another officer had been shot earlier. At least eight other victims had been discovered at that point.
After the SWAT team and Bowers allegedly exchanged gunfire at 11 a.m., officers heard Bowers say he was injured and required help. Following instructions from officers, Bowers began to crawl out of the classroom.
“I had to do it,” Bowers allegedly said when an officer asked him why he did it, according to court documents.
After handcuffing Bowers, officers conducted a ruse to determine if he had any accomplices by telling him they saw him and a partner enter the synagogue.
Bowers told them he acted alone.
“That must have been some (expletive) Jew. I came in here all by myself,” he said, according to court documents.
Laying on the floor waiting for paramedics to be allowed to enter, Bowers complained that his handcuffs were too tight. An officer responded that he would be treated humanely and that medics were coming.
At that point, according to court documents, Bowers said: “Good. These people are committing genocide to my people.”
An officer read Bowers his Miranda rights in the ambulance on the way to Allegheny General Hospital, according to court documents.
In the hospital, officers asked Bowers questions to determine if there was any remaining threats to the public. Bowers responded by identifying the AR-15 rifle and the three handguns used, and denied any other threats existed, according to court records.
