Federal prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against the man who is accused of killing 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday.
The man, Robert Bowers, has been charged with 29 counts in total, including 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder and multiple counts of hate crimes, according to a Department of Justice statement.
“The crimes of violence are based upon the federal civil rights laws prohibiting hate crimes,” the statement reads.
Specifically, the charges against Bowers include eleven counts of obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs to the point of causing death and four counts of obstruction to the point of causing injury to a public safety officer.{mosads}
If Bowers is convicted of the hate crime charges he may receive the death penalty, according to CNN.
“The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity,” U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said Sunday, CNN reported.
Saturday’s shooting was likely the worst act of violence against Jewish people in U.S. history according to a statement from the Anti-Defamation League.
President Trump suggested Saturday after the shooting that the perpetrator should get the death penalty.
“Anyone who does a thing like this to innocent people … they should really pay the ultimate price,” Trump said.
In separate comments, the president condemned the attack again, calling it “an assault on humanity.”
“It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism from our world,” Trump said. “This was an anti-Semitic attack at its worst.”