Pittsburgh mayor calls for moment of silence Tuesday to remember Tree of Life attacks
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto is asking Pittsburgh residents to observe a moment of silence and reflection at 9:54 a.m. Tuesday, the moment when the shooting started in 2018 at the Squirrel Hill synagogue that left 11 people dead and wounded two others.
“My thoughts continue to be with everyone impacted by this senseless tragedy. May the memories of our lost community members continue to be a blessing,” Peduto said in a statement.
Moment of Silence and Reflection On October 27th pic.twitter.com/QlsEDS4vVM
— Daniel Gilman (@danielgilman) October 26, 2020
The Tree of Life attack two years ago was the deadliest act of anti-Semitic violence in U.S. history.
Killed in the attack were: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger. They were from the three congregations that used the synagogue: Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light.
Four Pittsburgh police officers were wounded by gunfire while responding: Timothy Matson, Anthony Burke, Daniel Mead and Michael Smidga. Two other officers, John Persin and Tyler Pashel, suffered hearing and knee injuries respectively.
Events to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre started Sunday and continue through the week. For a listing, click here.
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.