(JTA) — The pastor of the mother of the suspected gunman in the Pittsburgh synagogue attack said she is “hurting for the Jewish community.”
The woman, identified as Barbara, is “really saddened,” Pastor Mark Schollaert of First Baptist Church in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Wednesday evening.
The woman lives near the church with her partner, who is not the father of the suspect, Robert Bowers.
Bowers was arraigned on 44 counts, 32 punishable by death and including hate crimes, in a federal court in Pittsburgh on Thursday morning. He is being held in jail without bond.
On Wednesday, Bowers’ mother asked her pastor to publicly address how troubled and heartbroken she feels about the attack.
“They’re just really saddened for the Jewish community, they really are, that’s Barbara and Ray,” Schollaert said. “They’re hurting for the Jewish community. They love the Jewish people. It’s a hard thing.”
