Today in History. October 27. In 2018, a gunman shot and killed 11 congregants and wounded six others at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. President Trump visited the synagogue two days later despite requests from synagogue and community leaders that he wait until after the funerals or possibly not come at all. Given Trump’s divisive rhetoric and known relationships with antisemitic groups, it is understandable that the Jewish community of Pittsburgh would take offense at the then-president’s presence in their community. Other things that happened on this date. In 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published. In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Major Rudolf Anderson. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch cut through the western Caribbean, pummeling coastal Honduras and Belize. the storm caused several thousand deaths in Central America in the days that followed.