A shooter opened fire during a baby-naming ceremony at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and wounding six others including four police officers who dashed to the scene, according to AP sources and authorities.
Police said a suspect was in custody after the attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Robert Bowers and said he is in his 40s. The official wasn't authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
City officials said the shooting was being investigated as a federal hate crime. It comes amid a rash of high-profile attacks in an increasingly divided country, including the series of pipe bombs mailed over the past week to prominent Democrats and former officials.
President Donald Trump told reporters at the airport in Indianapolis that there were "a lot of people killed" and "a lot of people very badly wounded."
Police earlier said "several" died. Six were wounded, including the four police officers, said a visibly moved Wendell Hissrich, the Pittsburgh public safety director.
"It is a very horrific crime scene. It's one of the worst that I've seen and I've been on some plane crashes," Hissrich said.
The attack took place during a baby naming ceremony, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. It was unknown whether the baby was harmed.
The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The tree-lined residential neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of Pittsburgh's Jewish community.
Until the suspect was taken into custody, the neighborhood and all synagogues in the city were in a lockdown, with people ordered to remain indoors.
Trump called the shooting "far more devastating than anyone thought," saying "it's a terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country."
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