The mayor of Pittsburgh summoned all the city’s famous industrial grit on Sunday evening as he promised to drive anti-Semites out of the open and back to their basements, following the gun attack that killed 11 Jewish people.

Thousands of mourners packed into the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum for an eclectic service that featured gospel songs, psalms, the words of Mr Rogers – the puppeteer and TV star who lived locally – and a speech by Naftali Bennett, the nationalist Israeli government minister.

Some in the crowd came to express their grief while others said they had come to show their solidarity.

But it was Bill Peduto, the city’s mayor, who captured the defiant mood of thousands more who braved an autumn downpour to stand outside and listen to the service via loudspeakers.

“Let me tell you something about Pittsburgh: We’re tough. We are proud of our blue collar roots and we are not the type of people that react to threats or actions in a way that takes back from us,” he said, in an address that referenced how the steel city had bounced back from previous hardships.

“We will drive antisemitism and the hate of any people back to the basement, on to computers, and away from open discussion and dialogue around the city, around the state and around this country.”