Pittsburgh police investigate antisemitic pamphlets in neighborhood of shooting

Public Information Officer Chris Togneri did not provide specific details about the pamphlets in a news release.

By DILLON CARR/THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW

DECEMBER 10, 2018 08:50

A woman bows her head in front of a memorial on October 28, 2018, at the Tree of Life synagogue after a shooting there left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on October 27 (photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP) — A woman bows her head in front of a memorial on October 28, 2018, at the Tree of Life synagogue after a shooting there left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on October 27

(photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

(TNS)- The city’s Public Safety and police departments said Sunday they are investigating “the dissemination of anti-Semitic pamphlets” in Squirrel Hill, the neighborhood in which a gunman killed 11 Jews at a synagogue in October, and other Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

Public Information Officer Chris Togneri did not provide specific details about the pamphlets in a news release.

Jeff Finkelstein, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said the fliers targeted the Jewish and African American communities in Pittsburgh.

“This is a prime example of how hateful people don’t only hate one group of people,” he said. “We are committed to the safety and security of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish community. We have the utmost confidence in our local and national law enforcement as they investigate.”

Togneri said the hate-filled material will not be tolerated in Pittsburgh.

“… (N)ot by residents, City officials nor Law Enforcement,” Togneri said.

He said the Department of Public Safety, along with Director Wendell Hissrich, Police Chief Scott Schubert and Zone 4 Commander Dan Herrmann, “assures the community that we are taking this matter very seriously and will follow every investigative avenue.”

“Pittsburgh is and will remain stronger than hate,” Togneri said.

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