Jurors sitting for the trial of accused Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooter Robert Bowers were shown photos of important — and in some cases, destroyed — objects at the crime scene on the first day of the alleged gunman's trial.
Mr Bowers is facing numerous charges for killing 11 people when police say he attacked the synagogue in October 2018.
Jurors were shown a few important items and locations from the synagogue to give them context for the rest of the trial. Among them were a Torah rescued from the Holocaust and the tiny bathroom where Rabbi Jeffrey Myers hid during the shooting.
Mr Myers offered testimony recalling the day of the shooting. He said he escaped to a small bathroom where the called 911. He realised the door to the bathroom would not lock, so he pulled back as hard as he could to keep the door shut while he spoke to emergency operators.
He said if he felt any pull on the opposite side of the door he was prepared to fight, according to WESA.
The rabbi recalled the shots getting louder, and having to tell the dispatcher he had to stop talking, fearing he might attract the shooter.
"I thought about the history of my people, how we have been persecuted, hunted and slaughtered for centuries," he told prosecutors. "and how all of them must have felt at the moments before their death."
The prosecution also showed off a prayer book recovered from the crime scene. The little book's corners were shredded by gunfire.
Mr Myers kept the prayer book as a reminder.
"It's a witness to the horror of the day," he said. "One day when I am not there, this book tells a story that needs to be told."
The little prayer book is not the only book the congregation has that tells a story of perseverance in the presence of hate; the synagogue also counts a Torah that survived the Holocaust among its possessions.
The holy book was rescued from a town that had been destroyed by the Germans during WWII. Mr Myers told the jury that none of the town's inhabitants survived, but that a Nazi took the Torah. It was later recovered from the UK by a member of the synagogue.
Typically damaged Torahs must be burned — a purifying ritual in the Abrahamic faiths — but the rabbi said they decided to keep that one in a sealed glass case to serve as a reminder.
