Victims of mass shootings since Tree of Life recognized at North Shore event

Eleven. Thirteen. Five. Six. Thirteen. Five. Twenty-two. Ten. Eight. Four.

Pittsburgh. Thousand Oaks. Sebring. Aurora. Virginia Beach. Santa Maria. El Paso. Dayton. Midland-Odessa. Kansas City.

Under blue skies and sunshine on the edge of the Allegheny River, one person stepped forward for each victim killed in public mass shootings since the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018.

The event drew dozens, many of whom held signs representing the victims of gun violence. It was organized by Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence, CeaseFirePA and Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh.

Eleven empty chairs represented the 11 victims from Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Light who were “murdered, on the Shabbat, on the Sabbath, in their house of worship,” said event organizer Anne Marie Nelson.

The memorial event honored all victims of gun violence in Allegheny County this year, as well as thousands who have taken their own lives across the county, state and country.

It was the culmination of an event that began earlier Thursday afternoon at the Rodef Shalom synagogue, where activists called on legislators to stop letting gun legislation die on the vine.

Dana Kellerman, policy director of Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence and a board member at Dor Hadash, said her son, 12 at the time, asked her months after the shooting when the hurt would stop.

“Because our legislators have done nothing, we have had to answer our children’s questions of, ‘When is it going to stop hurting so much?’ with, ‘We don’t know,’” she said.

“How are we doing? We are angry and we are anguished,” she continued. “I am angry that it has been a year since my synagogue was attacked by a man with assault-style weapons who murdered 11 of my fellow congregants, and that in the bloody year since our tragedy, there has been gun massacre after gun massacre.”

State Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, championed his stalled red flag legislation that would temporarily take guns from those who could be a danger to themselves or others. He said hate speech and hateful views have flourished, meaning laws must catch up.

“It’s time that our laws reflect this current moment in time and that we stand with families that are trying to protect innocent people,” he said. “It’s also time that our laws empower families that try to get their loved ones the help they need.”

He said such laws could have possibly stopped Robert Bowers, charged with the killings at Tree of Life.

Rob Conroy, organizing director of CeaseFirePA, called the failure of lawmakers to act “shameful.”

“They need to listen to their constituents,” he said, “not the gun lobby, and need to pass these life-saving reforms before more families and communities are torn apart.”