'I am the Jewish nurse who treated the synagogue shooter'

The nurse who cared for alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers identified himself in a post on social media.

Ari Mahler came forward in a heartfelt post Saturday night on Facebook.

“I am The Jewish Nurse. Yes, that Jewish Nurse. The same one that people are talking about in the Pittsburgh shooting that left 11 dead. The trauma nurse in the ER that cared for Robert Bowers who yelled, ‘Death to all Jews,’ as he was wheeled into the hospital. The Jewish nurse who ran into a room to save his life,” Mahler began his post.

Mahler was one of three Jewish doctors and nurses to tend to Bowers when he was brought to Allegheny General Hospital with gunshot wounds sustained during a shootout with police after he allegedly killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Congregation on Oct. 27.

The son of a rabbi, Mahler noted that he “experienced anti-Semitism a lot” as a kid, including swastikas drawn on his locker and pictures drawn showing him and his family being marched to a gas chamber. And, he said, he did not tell anyone about the anti-Semitism he was suffering.

Mahler said in his Facebook post that he did not see evil in Bowers eyes but rather “a clear lack of depth, intelligence and palpable amounts of confusion.”

He said that Bowers “thanked him for saving him, for showing him kindness and for treating him the same way I treat every other patient.”

Mahler said that he did not tell Bowers that he was Jewish. “I chose not to say anything the entire time. I wanted him to feel compassion. I chose to show him empathy. I felt that the best way to honor his victims was for a Jew to prove him wrong,” he wrote.

He said he acted out of love.

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