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WESA Awards Entry For Continuing Coverage: Tree Of Life

Kathleen Davis
/
90.5 WESA
The fence in front of the Tree of Life synagogue has been decorated with 101 images from young people around the world. It was installed nearly one year after a mass shooting took place in the building.

On October 27, 2018, a gunman entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood and killed 11 people, in what authorities call the worst incident of anti-Semitic violence on American soil.

WESA reporters covered the next year, as survivors, family members, and the entire community dealt with the aftermath and trauma of the shooting, including coming together to heal, trying to find ways to improve security and safety, determine how to rebuild the actual synagogue, and navigate the early stages of a death-penalty trial for the alleged gunman.