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| Kansas City suspect to be charged with hate crime in Jewish centre shooting | Kansas City suspect to be charged with hate crime in Jewish centre shooting |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| Authorities investigating the killing of three people in attacks on the Jewish community in Kansas City declared they were treating the incident as a hate crime, as a deeper picture emerged Monday of the suspect’s longstanding ties to hate groups. | Authorities investigating the killing of three people in attacks on the Jewish community in Kansas City declared they were treating the incident as a hate crime, as a deeper picture emerged Monday of the suspect’s longstanding ties to hate groups. |
| Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, was booked into Johnson County jail on a preliminary charge of first-degree murder and is scheduled for an initial court appearance on Monday afternoon. He was arrested on Sunday after a shooting spree that killed a 14-year-old boy and his grandfather outside a popular Jewish community center, and a third victim outside a nearby Jewish retirement home in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. | Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, was booked into Johnson County jail on a preliminary charge of first-degree murder and is scheduled for an initial court appearance on Monday afternoon. He was arrested on Sunday after a shooting spree that killed a 14-year-old boy and his grandfather outside a popular Jewish community center, and a third victim outside a nearby Jewish retirement home in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. |
| US attorney general Eric Holder said he has instructed the Justice Department to provide all available support to state and local authorities. Officials said Cross would face federal criminal charges. | US attorney general Eric Holder said he has instructed the Justice Department to provide all available support to state and local authorities. Officials said Cross would face federal criminal charges. |
| Television crews caught Cross yelling “Heil Hitler” during his arrest after the shooting. But at a news conference on Sunday, Overland Park police chief John Douglass said it was too early in the investigation to tell whether Cross, also known as Frazier Glenn Miller, had an anti-Semitic motive. “We know it's a vicious act of violence. Obviously two Jewish facilities, one might make that assumption," Douglass said. | Television crews caught Cross yelling “Heil Hitler” during his arrest after the shooting. But at a news conference on Sunday, Overland Park police chief John Douglass said it was too early in the investigation to tell whether Cross, also known as Frazier Glenn Miller, had an anti-Semitic motive. “We know it's a vicious act of violence. Obviously two Jewish facilities, one might make that assumption," Douglass said. |
| The incident has brought attention to Cross’s decades-long affiliation with hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that tracks hate movements in the US, said Cross was once the grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He has also been arrested for using intimidation tactics against African Americans, and he has authored a book filled with hateful rhetoric. | The incident has brought attention to Cross’s decades-long affiliation with hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that tracks hate movements in the US, said Cross was once the grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He has also been arrested for using intimidation tactics against African Americans, and he has authored a book filled with hateful rhetoric. |
| The SPLC maintained a deep catalog of Cross’ hateful leanings long before the Sunday shootings. The group sued him in the 1980s for operating an illegal paramilitary organization and for using intimidation tactics against African Americans. He was then found in criminal contempt and sentenced to prison for starting another Klan group, the White Patriot Party. He also served three years in federal prison for plotting robberies and the assassination of SPLC founder Morris Dees. | The SPLC maintained a deep catalog of Cross’ hateful leanings long before the Sunday shootings. The group sued him in the 1980s for operating an illegal paramilitary organization and for using intimidation tactics against African Americans. He was then found in criminal contempt and sentenced to prison for starting another Klan group, the White Patriot Party. He also served three years in federal prison for plotting robberies and the assassination of SPLC founder Morris Dees. |
| He was the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 1987 for violating the terms of his bond while appealing a North Carolina conviction for operating a paramilitary camp. The search ended after federal agents found him and three other men in an Ozark mobile home, which was filled with hand grenades, automatic weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition. He ran for a US House seat in 2006 and the US Senate in 2010, espousing a white power platform. | He was the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 1987 for violating the terms of his bond while appealing a North Carolina conviction for operating a paramilitary camp. The search ended after federal agents found him and three other men in an Ozark mobile home, which was filled with hand grenades, automatic weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition. He ran for a US House seat in 2006 and the US Senate in 2010, espousing a white power platform. |
| “He’s a longtime white nationalist who has spent decades promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and has had various run-ins with the law,” Devin Burghart of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights told the Kansas City Star. | “He’s a longtime white nationalist who has spent decades promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and has had various run-ins with the law,” Devin Burghart of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights told the Kansas City Star. |
| Part of that promotion includes his self-published autobiography, A White Man Speaks Out. The book is filled with intensely hateful rhetoric against essentially anyone who is not a white Christian man, and even those people are condemned for not solely associating with people like themselves. | Part of that promotion includes his self-published autobiography, A White Man Speaks Out. The book is filled with intensely hateful rhetoric against essentially anyone who is not a white Christian man, and even those people are condemned for not solely associating with people like themselves. |
| Speaking to a class of college students in January 2012, he used hateful invective against Jewish people and called Jewish students derogatory names, according to Buzzfeed, which spoke to the professor who invited Cross to his class to teach students about hate groups. | Speaking to a class of college students in January 2012, he used hateful invective against Jewish people and called Jewish students derogatory names, according to Buzzfeed, which spoke to the professor who invited Cross to his class to teach students about hate groups. |
| Cross lives in a small single-story home bordered on three sides with barbed wire fences just outside the small south-west Missouri town of Aurora, some 180 miles south of Overland Park. A red Chevrolet bearing two Confederate flag stickers was parked outside. The AP said a reporter knocked on the front door of the house early Monday but no one answered. | Cross lives in a small single-story home bordered on three sides with barbed wire fences just outside the small south-west Missouri town of Aurora, some 180 miles south of Overland Park. A red Chevrolet bearing two Confederate flag stickers was parked outside. The AP said a reporter knocked on the front door of the house early Monday but no one answered. |
| His neighbors told newspapers that he was known to have racist views. "He's quite notorious around here," farmer Jack Ebert, who lives down the road from Cross, told the Los Angeles Times. "He was very racist. I never had any contact with the man but I know people who have. He didn't like anyone who wasn't like him. He was particularly racist against blacks, but it doesn't surprise me that he attacked a Jewish center. It fits in with his mentality.” | His neighbors told newspapers that he was known to have racist views. "He's quite notorious around here," farmer Jack Ebert, who lives down the road from Cross, told the Los Angeles Times. "He was very racist. I never had any contact with the man but I know people who have. He didn't like anyone who wasn't like him. He was particularly racist against blacks, but it doesn't surprise me that he attacked a Jewish center. It fits in with his mentality.” |
| Another neighbor told the Associated Press that Cross always seems friendly but that locals were well aware of his racist leanings. | |
| "It's crazy that someone can be so likeable but be full of this kind of hate," said Mitzi Owens. | "It's crazy that someone can be so likeable but be full of this kind of hate," said Mitzi Owens. |
| Police said the attacks happened within minutes of one another. At around 1pm a gunman shot two people in the parking lot behind the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. He then drove a few blocks to a retirement community, Village Shalom, and gunned down a woman or girl there, Douglass said. Officers arrested him in an elementary school parking lot a short time later. | Police said the attacks happened within minutes of one another. At around 1pm a gunman shot two people in the parking lot behind the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. He then drove a few blocks to a retirement community, Village Shalom, and gunned down a woman or girl there, Douglass said. Officers arrested him in an elementary school parking lot a short time later. |
| The family of the first two victims released a statement identifying them as William Lewis Corporon, who died at the scene, and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, who died at Overland Park regional medical centre. The third victim was 53-year-old Terri LaManno, police said, an occupational therapist and married mother of two children who was making a regular visit to her mother who lived at the retirement facility, police said. | |
| Corporon and his grandson were both Christian. The family thanked the church and others for their support. | |
| "We take comfort knowing they are together in heaven," the family said, while asking for privacy to mourn. | |
| Political and religious leaders condemned the shootings. | Political and religious leaders condemned the shootings. |
| “I want to offer my condolences to all the families trying to make sense of this difficult situation and pledge the full support from the federal government as we heal and cope during this trying time,” said president Barack Obama. | “I want to offer my condolences to all the families trying to make sense of this difficult situation and pledge the full support from the federal government as we heal and cope during this trying time,” said president Barack Obama. |
| Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his condolences to the families of the victims. | Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his condolences to the families of the victims. |
| "We are condemning the murder which according to all signs was committed because of hatred of Jews," Netanyahu said. "The state of Israel … together with all civilized peoples is committed to fighting against this plague." | "We are condemning the murder which according to all signs was committed because of hatred of Jews," Netanyahu said. "The state of Israel … together with all civilized peoples is committed to fighting against this plague." |
| The Associated Press contributed to this report. | The Associated Press contributed to this report. |