Defense, prosecution rest cases in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial
Day 11 of the trial against Robert Bowers, the man accused of shooting and killing 11 worshippers at a Squirrel Hill synagogue, continued Wednesday with more witnesses taking the stand.
On Tuesday, the jury heard from white supremacy and terrorism experts who reviewed Bowers’ Gab posts, communications with police, and selfies on his phone.
PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING TRIAL: FULL COVERAGE ⇒
Warning: the details coming out of this trial are difficult to hear and may be upsetting to some.
If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health effects from the trial, go to 1027healingpartnership.org to find help resources. As always, call 911 to report threats.
Phone: 412-697-3534
We have a team of reporters inside the courthouse and have live updates throughout the day.
UPDATE 1:38 p.m.: Defense and prosecution rest
Both the defense and prosecution have rested their cases.
The prosecution called 60 witnesses total, while the defense said they had no evidence to present.
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Thursday morning.
#NOW Both the defense and prosecution have rested in this case. Closing arguments will begin tomorrow morning. @WPXI
— Nicole Ford (@NicoleFordTV) June 14, 2023
UPDATE 11:49 a.m.: “We were filled with terror” Survivor Andrea Wedner testifies
Andrea Wedner grew up in Squirrel Hill. She got married in the Pervin Chapel and raised her family in that neighborhood.
Her parents were very active at the synagogue, going both Friday nights and Saturday mornings.
“My mother was very involved in the sisterhood and worked to raise money for the synagogue,” she said.
She attended Tree of Life synagogue her whole life.
“We learned things, it was just a warm place to be. I felt comfortable there,” she said.
In October 2018, Rose Mallinger, her mother, was 97 years old.
“My mother was a devoted wife and mother,” she said. “My parents were married for over 50 years. She was dearly adored and loved grandmother of five.”
Rose was going to synagogue with her sister and at some point, she couldn’t go anymore. So Andrea said she’d take her mom and she thought it would just be one day and they went every Saturday for six years.
“She was sharp as a tack. She would remember things better than me,” Wedner said.
Her mother always had to be on time so they always got there early or right on time. Wedner said her mom always read the prayer for peace and always stayed for the meal afterward with a core group of Saturday regulars.
Wedner said some things she has a very clear memory of from that day and other things are a little foggy.
Wedner says she picked up her mom at 9:35 a.m. and parked in the second spot behind Bernice and Sylvan Simon.
They saw Irv Younger and Bernice and Sylvan Simon.
“It was either the third or fourth row from the back,” she said. “There was a worn spot on the seat so we always knew that’s where we sat.
Irv Younger would always hand out prayer books, Wedner said.
A photo of the Pervin Chapel is shown in court.
Wedner said they sat on the left side of the chapel always with Bernice and Sylvan about four rows in front of them.
“We heard a loud crash out in the lobby area. It sounded like a high screech sound,” she said.
They looked around at each other, then they heard gunshots in the hallway. It was rapid, she said.
“My mother looked at me and said, ‘What do we do?’ in a very scared voice. I heard the Rabbi say, ‘Get down,’ and I told her, ‘We have to get down,’” Wedner said.
Wedner said she wanted to hide and felt she was in danger.
“My mother could not have run out of there and I didn’t know where the shooting was so we just got down,” she said.
She said she has a clear memory of seeing the shooter.
“He was on our side behind the last pew directly in front of me,” she said.
“I saw a white male with light-colored or gray hair in a light-colored jacket and he was holding a big long gun,” Wedner said.
I can’t remember if he said anything, but he did fire the gun multiple times, she said.
Wedner said she and her mother were on the ground.
“We were head to head. Her feet were facing the center aisle and my feet were facing the other way.”
They were trying to hide under the pews “We were filled with terror. It’s indescribable. We thought we were going to die,” she said.
Wedner tried to comfort her mother as she heard shots “Once I was on the floor I saw him walk to the other side of the chapel near the stained glass windows.”
It’s unclear when he left the chapel and when he came back.
“I was frantic. Scared as scared can be,” she said. “I heard (Bernice Simon) call out, ‘My husband’s been shot’ in the back.”
Wedner called 911. She asked for the call not to be played while she was on the stand.
In the call, she says he might come back up, and tells the operator he keeps shooting.
“We were facing the back when I saw him enter,” she said.
“I was standing up. I’m not sure how I got there, but I was standing up....I saw my right arm get blown open in two places. The pain was the worst pain I ever felt,” she said.
Wedner had cuts to her face, and shrapnel all throughout her face and upper body.
After she was shot, she lay on the floor and didn’t move in case he came back.
“I didn’t want him to know I was alive,” she said.
Wedner said she could see that her mother was shot. She felt her wrist for a pulse and it was faint.
“I knew she wasn’t going to survive...I wasn’t going to leave my mother and I didn’t know where he was,” she said.
Her daughter was getting married the next spring and wondering if she would see her walk down the aisle.
She thought, “Will I live or will I die?”
Wedner said she thinks she may have seen Cecil Rosenthal get shot and fall to the ground. She says she could see him on the ground when she was under the pews.
She said she saw officers approach.
“I saw fatigues and knew it was the good guys,” she said.
She moved her leg to show she was alive, but they told her to stay down until someone came back to get her.
No one else alive had stayed in the chapel. She said Bernice Simon was no longer talking.
She was able to get up.
“I kissed my fingers and touched my fingers to her skin and cried out ‘Mommy,’” she said.
SWAT led her out and she had to step over Cecil Rosenthal to get out. Wedner said they put a tourniquet on her arm in another room. She had to go down the steps and saw Jerry Rabinowitz lying at the top of the steps.
Then she went outside to the rescue truck and was taken to the hospital, where she remained for ten days with two surgeries on her arm.
They made her mother’s funeral the last funeral so that she could go. She wasn’t allowed to walk after taking a skin graft from her leg and was brought back to the hospital after the funeral.
She’s had three surgeries on her hand and other surgeries on her face to address the shrapnel. She was in occupational therapy for a year with lasting effects.
Wedner still has some fine motor skills issues and was never able to return to work.
UPDATE 10:58 a.m.: Officer Tim Matson, who was shot in the line of duty, takes the stand
Tim Matson grew up in McKees Rocks and is employed with Pittsburgh Police.
He’s currently assigned to SWAT and has been with the bureau for 18 years.
On the day of the shooting, he met up with other team members and entered the synagogue, led by Andrew Miller.
On the upper levels, he was at the base of stairs and saw a door on the right with a landing and more steps to go up to another room. Tech and K9s were not available so they made the decision based on priority of life to keep clearing.”
He said when he stepped into the room, “It was total dark.”
Matson said, “I was picking something up behind me and it felt like a dog ran into my leg and took me off my feet.” “Next thing I remember, I was in the most darkest, calm place of my life. I felt something fall on me. At the time I didn’t know what it was. But now I know it was Officer Saldutte.”
He said he had two thoughts: That he just got shot in the head and, “You are still thinking. Do something.”
He didn’t know if he fired his weapon or not.
He said he made it to the bottom of the stairs and he was at his teammate’s feet.
“I remember Andrew Miller screaming at me but I don’t know what he was saying,” he said. “I wasn’t feeling too much of anything.”
He remembers a medic telling him to breathe.
He said he was shot in the left and right leg, but said medics probably only thought he was shot in one leg so they crossed the legs to try to get him out. He said he told the medics he was having difficulty breathing.
He said he didn’t feel the pain until they tried to pick him up.
“My next memory is they were putting me on a stretcher and taking me out of the building,” he said.
At that time, he was six feet, four inches tall, and 310 pounds. In his gear, he was 365 pounds, so the medics were struggling to get him out. He has a genetic clotting disorder, so he needed blood thinners if he was ever shot.
He said he just remember looking at their faces and thinking he must be in bad shape because the way police officers were looking at him — they did not have a poker face.
He said the tourniquet they applied to stop the bleeding felt worse than being shot.
Matson’s rifle, vest, helmet and bullet plates are shown in court, riddled with bullets.
A SWAT plate is more resistant to rifle bullets than a patrol plate.
“I have seven new holes in my body,” he said.
A bullet cut a tendon in his hand, broke his ring finger knuckle and shattered his kneecap.
He couldn’t hear out of his left ear for a while from the head shot. It caused fractures in his skull and jaw. He has some memory loss.
Matson has had 25 surgeries.
He spent 16 weeks in three different hospitals.
It took two years to get back to work and he has been off and on work with surgeries since the last surgery last October.
Matson was asked if he would make the decision to be the first man through that door in the synagogue again.
“Absolutely. I’d go through any door for my team anytime,” he said.
There is shrapnel in his left hip that can’t be removed.
The defense has no questions.
UPDATE 10:16 a.m.: FBI Special Agent Brian Collins takes the stand
Special Agent Brian Collins of the FBI takes the stand.
Collins investigates civil rights violations. He also has a background as a police officer in Ohio.
Evidence is shown in court.
Bowers is leaning back in his chair, looking between the witness and his defense attorney next to him.
Collins says the address on Bowers’ was for a storage unit in Bridgeville.
Collins says he reviewed all video footage, 911 calls and material found throughout the synagogue. He established a sequence of events that happened that day.
At 8:57 a.m. His computer was booted and set to “shred” data after 200 minutes.
At 11:13 a.m., the defendant was handcuffed.
UPDATE 9:50 a.m.: Peter Hammer, FBI computer analyst, takes the stand
Peter Hammer, an FBI computer analyst, is the first witness to take the stand.
Hammer is testifying as an expert in computer forensics.
Hammer was part of a search team at Bower’s apartment in Baldwin. He says he was shocked at how clean and tidy it was inside.
He says a computer was up and running.
Out of the six hard drives, Hammer could not find any content or information on any of them because of a shred command programmed in after a 200-minute sleep
“I’ve never seen anyone set up a timer to wipe their data,” he says.
Hemmer is asked if anyone else who didn’t have his background would have found the shred command.
Hammer says if you don’t know how to switch between the consoles, you wouldn’t know
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