The truth is, aside from his hateful online rants, we really don’t know too much about Robert Bowers — although maybe the rants, plus his subsequent murder spree, are all we need to know. The New York Times reports that he lived in a “brick apartment complex on a dead-end street” in Baldwin, a suburb of Pittsburgh, about 25 minutes by car from the Tree of Life synagogue. To complete the stereotype of a lethal, loner shooter, a neighbor reported not seeing Bower speak to anyone in two years. He went outside to smoke cigarettes, and drove a truck for work, per the BBC. That’s it. Neighbor Chris Hall said, “The most terrifying thing is just how normal he seemed.”
Bowers did, however, have an active gun license and owned 21 firearms. At least six of those guns were purchased since 1996, including the three handguns that he may have used during his murder spree, per Reuters. About a month before the attack he posted pictures of the results of his shooting range practice, where he described his “glock family” handgun trio. He had no prior criminal record.
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Bowers also wasn’t a fan of Donald Trump, and was registered to vote with “no affiliation” in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. As The New York Times quotes, two days before the shooting he wrote, “Trump is a globalist, not a nationalist. There is no #MAGA as long as there is a [slur against Jewish people] infestation.”
