The Tree of Life Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a mass shooting took place during Shabbat services on Oct. 27. Photo: Google Maps screenshot.

JNS.org – The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize on Monday for breaking-news reporting covering the October 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where 11 Jewish worshippers were killed by a gunman during Shabbat morning services.

It was the deadliest attack in American Jewish history.

The judges described the staff’s work as “immersive, compassionate coverage … that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.”

“The value of members of this news staff doing their jobs, doing their sacred duty, has been affirmed,” said executive editor Keith Burris to the Post-Gazette newsroom following the announcement.

A moment of silence was observed for the victims.

“We are not so much celebrating as affirming … the job we were put on this earth to do,” said Post-Gazette emeritus executive editor David Shribman, who headed the staff as the tragedy developed. “Let’s dedicate ourselves to the memory of those whose lives were lost.”