The man who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue has been formally sentenced to death, one day after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate for the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.

US District Judge Robert Colville ordered death by lethal injection for Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old lorry driver whose vicious antisemitism led him to shoot his way into a place of worship and target people for practising their faith.

“I have nothing specific that I care to say to Mr Bowers,” Judge Colville said from the bench. “I am however convinced there is nothing I could say to him that might be meaningful.”

Grieving families confronted Bowers in court before Judge Colville pronounced the sentence, describing the pain and suffering he had inflicted, and calling him evil and cowardly.

Bowers, who chose not to speak, spent the entire hearing shuffling through papers and writing, and refused to look those he victimised in the eye, even when invited to do so.

Several survivors spoke of lingering traumas – sleeplessness, fear of crowds and loud noises, and physical and cognitive struggles triggered by the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue.

But survivors and family members, several wearing yarmulkes signifying Jewish observance, also emphasised their resilience in practising the Judaism that the defendant hated.

Alan Mallinger, son of 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, the attack’s oldest victim, told Bowers the synagogue would be rebuilt, the scene of future bar and bat mitzvahs and other rituals of Jewish worship.

“We continue to thrive as Jewish people … stronger than ever,” he declared.

Bowers, from suburban Baldwin, ranted about Jews online before carrying out the attack at Tree of Life, in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, on October 27, 2018.

He killed members of the Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life congregations, which shared the synagogue building. Bowers told police at the scene that “all these Jews must die” and has since expressed pride in the killings.

Jurors were unanimous in finding that Bowers’ attack was motivated by his hatred of Jews, and that he chose Tree of Life for its location in one of the largest and most historic Jewish communities in the nation so he could “maximise the devastation, amplify the harm of his crimes, and instill fear within the local, national, and international Jewish communities”. They also found that Bowers lacked remorse.

The jury rejected defence claims that Bowers has schizophrenia and that his delusions about Jewish people spurred the attack.

“Mr Bowers, you met my beloved husband in the kitchen. Your callous disregard for the person he was repulses me,” said Peg Durachko, wife of 65-year-old Dr Richard Gottfried, a dentist who was shot and killed. “Your hateful act took my soulmate from me.”

Mark Simon, whose parents, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, were killed in the attack, said he still has their bloodied prayer shawl. He said he remains haunted by the 911 call placed by his mother, whom Bowers shot while she was on the line.

“My parents died alone, without any living soul to comfort them or to hold their hand in their last moments,” said Mr Simon, condemning “that defendant” and urging the judge to show him no mercy.

“You will never be forgiven. Never,” Mr Simon told Bowers.

It was the first federal death sentence imposed during the presidency of Joe Biden, who pledged during his 2020 campaign to end capital punishment.

Mr Biden’s Justice Department has placed a moratorium on federal executions and has declined to authorise the death penalty in hundreds of new cases where it could apply.

But federal prosecutors said death was the appropriate punishment for Bowers, citing the vulnerability of his mainly elderly victims and his hate-based targeting of a religious community.

An appeal is expected, meaning that Bowers will likely spend years on federal death row even if the Justice Department lifts the moratorium on executions.

Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, also shot and wounded seven, including five responding police officers.

The gunman was convicted in June of 63 federal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death.

The synagogue has been closed since the shootings. The Tree of Life congregation plans to overhaul the synagogue complex to house a sanctuary, museum, memorial and centre for fighting antisemitism.

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers — speaking as a survivor and the “pastor of a wounded congregation” — said in court that many members remain hesitant to return to worship because of trauma or fear. “My beloved synagogue is the 12th victim,” he said.

The judge said he could not begin to understand the pain of the survivors and loved ones of those killed in the attack.

“May their memory be a blessing,” said Judge Colville, invoking the traditional Jewish expression in honor of the deceased.

Read more: Pittsburgh synagogue victims include 97 year old

A 97-year-old woman, two brothers in their 50s and a married couple in their 80s were among the 11 worshipers shot dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue during Sabbath prayers in the deadliest attack ever on America’s Jewish community, officials said on Sunday.

The names of the dead were released a day after a gunman, armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, stormed the Tree of Life temple in the city’s heavily Jewish Squirrel Hill neighbourhood yelling “All Jews must die” as he opened fire on the congregation.

In addition to the 11 mostly elderly victims who were killed, six people, including four police officers, were wounded before the suspect was arrested.

Robert Bowers, 46, who has a history of posting anti-Semitic material online, was charged under federal hate crime statutes, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

“The fact that this attack took place during a worship service makes it even more heinous,” U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said. Brady told a news conference that Bowers was to make his first court appearance on Monday afternoon before a federal judge in Pittsburgh.

The Squirrel Hill area was home to the late Fred Rogers whose long-running children’s television show “Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood” featured lessons on friendship and kindness. Five of the dead were from Squirrel Hill and the rest were from other parts of Pittsburgh.

The mass shooting sparked security alerts at houses of worship around the country and condemnation from politicians and religious leaders.

Some complained that the confrontational, nationalistic rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump has encouraged right-wing extremists and fed a surge in activity by hate groups.

Trump, who quickly branded Saturday’s shooting an act of pure evil and called on Americans to rise above hatred, was already facing similar criticism ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections following a spate of pipe bombs mailed last week to some of his prominent critics. The targets, mostly Democrats, included former U.S. President Barack Obama.

CLIMATE OF DIVISION

“Honestly I think this president’s whole modus operandi is to divide us. He gets up in the morning with new and inventive ways to divide us,” U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is Jewish, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” broadcast on Sunday.

Trump told reporters the killings might have been prevented if there had been an armed guard at the temple. Synagogue officials said police would only normally have been present for security on high holidays.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on Sunday said keeping guns out of the hands of irrational people was a better way to prevent violence, and called for unity in facing Saturday’s tragedy.

“We’ll get through this darkest day of Pittsburgh history by working together,” he told reporters.

Among those killed were: David Rosenthal, 54; his brother Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Sylvan Simon, 86, and his wife Bernice Simon, 84; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Daniel Stein, 71; Melvin Wax, 88; and Irving Younger, 69. The eldest victim was Rose Mallinger, 97, of Squirrel Hill.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told Fox News Sunday that DHS officials visited the Pittsburgh synagogue in March to provide training on active shooter responses.

FBI Special Agent Robert Jones said he did not know why Bowers targeted the Tree of Life synagogue.

Authorities believe the suspect entered the synagogue, opened fire on the worshippers and was fleeing when he encountered a police officer, Jones said. The two exchanged gunfire, he said, and Bowers reentered the building before a police tactical squad arrived.

Bowers surrendered and was taken to a hospital where he was listed in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

News of the attack spread quickly through the surrounding neighbourhood. Congregants at a nearby Synagogue, Beth Shalom, were alarmed before learning that the perpetrator had been captured, said Ira Frank, a past president of the congregation. He said he could imagine a scene of pandemonium if the assailant showed up at his temple.

“What was going through my mind was people who were going to walk, or children who run in front of their parents, behind their parents, people in wheelchairs, in strollers,” he said. About half of the congregants at Beth Shalom do not drive on the Sabbath, he said.

Federal prosecutors charged Bowers late on Saturday with 29 criminal counts including violating U.S. civil rights laws.

Bowers’ virulent anti-Semitic views were evident in prolific online postings. In one, early on Saturday, he wrote that a Jewish refugee group, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in”.

The Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Council for Public Affairs described Saturday’s rampage as the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.

In Israel, cabinet ministers stood for a moment of silence on Sunday to honour the victims of the shooting.