The man accused of fatally shooting 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue during Sabbath prayers last week pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal hate crimes charges and other offenses.
Robert Bowers, 46, entered pleas of not guilty to all 44 counts against him, as the city's Jewish community buried three more of its dead.
Bowers, who was wounded in a gunfight with police, made his initial court appearance on Monday shackled to a wheelchair. On Thursday, he walked into the courtroom upright and without assistance, wearing a red jumpsuit and a bandage on his left arm.
He spoke little, other than to say he understood the charges and that some of them could lead to the death penalty, then entered his pleas. He also requested a jury trial.
He appeared sure of foot and confident, answering questions put to him by U.S. District Judge Robert Mitchell in a clear voice and signing papers with a steady hand.
The indictment filed against him on Wednesday includes 11 counts of obstructing free exercise of religion resulting in death, and 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder.
A former truck driver who frequently posted anti-Semitic slurs and conspiracy theories online, Bowers is accused of bursting into the Tree of Life Synagogue last Saturday with a semi-automatic rifle and three pistols and opening fire while shouting, "All Jews must die."
In addition to the 11 congregants killed, two more were wounded, as were four police officers, before Bowers was shot by police and surrendered.
The rampage was the deadliest attack targeting Jews in U.S. history. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
Following a spate of explosives packages that were mailed to prominent U.S. Democrats, the shooting heightened national tensions ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections, which will decide whether U.S. President Donald Trump will lose the Republican majority he enjoys in both houses of Congress.
The massacre also fueled a debate over Trump's inflammatory political rhetoric and his self-identification as a "nationalist," which critics say has fomented a surge in right-wing extremism.
In light of Bowers' support for Trump, the Trump administration has rejected suggestions that the president has encouraged white nationalists and neo-Nazis who have embraced him, insisting he is trying to unify the U.S. even as he continues to disparage the media as an "enemy of the people."
Shrugging off protests that he was unwelcome, Trump made a brief, low-key visit to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to pay his respects, as funerals were held for the first four victims.
Three more funerals were held on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by three more: Sylvan Simon, 86, and his wife of over 60 years, Bernice, 84, and dentist Dr. Richard Gottfried, 65.
Augie Siriano, a custodian at the synagogue, said the Simons often brought him chocolate chip cookies, and that Sylvan Simon, a retired accountant, liked to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers professional football team. His wife was a retired nurse.
"They were just wonderful, graceful people," Siriano said.
Dr. Jane Segal, a dentist who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh a year ahead of Gottfried, remembered him as a "wonderful man and a wonderful dentist."
"You couldn't find anyone finer," she said.
Bowers also has been charged in state court with 11 counts of criminal homicide and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation, though authorities have said prosecution of the federal case will take precedence.
