On Monday, law enforcement officials said that their suspect in the killings of three people at two Jewish community centers near Kansas City in the eve of Passover is a former Ku Klux Klan leader whose history against Jews is full of vitriol, Reuters said.
73 year-old Frazier Glenn Cross was arrested Sunday night and is facing local and federal prosecution on hate crime charges for a shooting spree. Cross' purported act caused the deaths of a teenager and his grandfather, who were killed just outside a Jewish community center, and a woman, who paid a visit to her mother that day at a Jewish retirement home nearby. The facilities, Reuters said, are located in an upscale suburbian area of Overland Park just outside of Kansas City. The news agency pointed out that Cross didn't actually killed Jews if that was his objective: the teenager and his grandfather attended a Methodist church in the area and the woman attended mass in a Catholic church.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Michael Kaste said about the attack, "Yesterday's attack ... strikes at the core fundamental freedoms ... of how our country was founded and what we live by every single day. We've now determined that the motivation behind this was a hate crime. The acts that this person committed were the result of beliefs ... that he had."
The Aurora, Missouri native has a criminal history and was known as a former senior member of the KKK movement by law enforcement and human rights groups, the FBI added. Cross also had made public comments against the Jewish, the federal agency noted.
14 year-old high school student Reat Griffin Underwood was with his 69 year-old grandfather William Corporon outside of the community center when the shooting spree began, Reuters said. The two were on site for the teenager's audition for a singing competition, a family member said. 53-year-old Terri LeManno was a married mother of two and was paying her mother at the visit when the shooter drove up to the retirement facility and fatally shot her, police said.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe and US. Attorney for the District of Kansas Barry Grissom has both said that they are currently collaborating on charges against Cross in both local and federal courts. The Anti-Defamation League also issued a security bulletin to synagogues in the US and communical institutions regarding their security plans for the Passover holiday, Reuters said.
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