August 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting
Encyclopedia
The 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting occurred on August 10, 1999, at around 10:50 a.m. local time
, when white supremacist
Buford O. Furrow, Jr.
walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills
and opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon, fired 70 shots into the complex. The gunfire wounded five people: three children, a teenage counselor, and an office worker. Shortly thereafter, Furrow murdered a mail carrier
, fled the state, and finally surrendered to authorities.
, and loaded it with five rifles, two pistols, 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a flak jacket. Furrow considered attacking three Jewish institutions: the Skirball Cultural Center
, the American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center
's Museum of Tolerance, but security measures presented too much of a problem.
Furrow proceeded to drive from Washington to the San Fernando Valley
with the stated purpose of "killing Jews". Three days later, Furrow pulled off the freeway into the Granada Hills area of Los Angeles and made his way to the North Valley Jewish Community Center just before 11 a.m. There were about 250 children playing outside when Furrow walked into the lobby carrying an Uzi-type submachine-gun. He opened fire, spraying bullets from right to left, leaving smoke and more than 70 casings on the ground. When he was done, a receptionist, a camp counselor and three little boys were wounded.
Furrow fled the scene in his van. Twenty minutes later, he carjacked a woman's Toyota at gunpoint, left the van behind, and then dumped the Toyota at a Chatsworth motel.
The shootings ended with the death of USPS postal worker Joseph Santos Ileto in Chatsworth
, a few miles away from the center. Ileto had just delivered mail to a home and was returning to his postal truck when Furrow asked Ileto to mail a letter for him. As Ileto agreed, Furrow pulled out a Glock 9mm handgun and shot Ileto nine times. Later, Furrow would confess that he murdered Ileto because he thought Ileto was Latino or Asian (Ileto was Filipino American
), and because Ileto was a federal employee.
Police found Furrow's abandoned van, where they discovered a cache of ammunition, rifle magazines, bulletproof vests, a Ranger Handbook, and freeze-dried food. Two books by Richard Kelly Hoskins, a Lynchburg, Virginia, leader of the Christian Identity
movement were also found; a copy of the book War Cycles, Peace Cycles, and Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of Phineas Priesthood, a book which according to the ADL
justifies racist acts of violence.
Furrow fled 275-miles in an $800 taxi ride from Los Angeles, California
to Las Vegas, Nevada
, ending the manhunt by walking into an FBI office to confess, saying "You're looking for me, I killed the kids in Los Angeles." Furrow also stated that he wanted his shooting to be "a wakeup call to America to kill Jews."
Joseph Ileto died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the back of the head. He was found dead in a driveway. At Ileto's funeral, messages of condolence from numerous politicians were read by Congressman Brad Sherman.
Of the five people injured in the shooting at the Community Center, all eventually recovered. Benjamin Kadish, the 5-year old boy, was the most seriously injured victim. Upon arriving at the Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, "He had no blood pressure, no pulse, so that would put you at the most critical condition you could possibly be in," according to the emergency room physician, but Kadish was eventually stabilized after six hours of surgery. Kadish was released from hospital on September 23, 1999, approximately one month after the shooting.
named for him.
Prosecutors in the case, who said Furrow admitted to his crimes stating they were motivated by racial hatred, promised to seek the death penalty if the case went to trial, which lead to a lengthy legal battle with Furrow's defense team. The case was further complicated by defense claims that Furrow suffered from serious psychiatric problems.
On January 24, 2001 Furrow pleaded guilty to all of the 16 felony counts against him (which include a murder charge for the shooting of Ileto, six counts of civil rights violations and nine weapons charges). In exchange for pleading guilty, Furrow avoided a possible death sentence, but instead agreed to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to the indictment, Furrow expressed no regrets for any of his crimes.
On March 26, 2001, at his sentencing hearing, Furrow was sentenced to two consecutive life terms, plus 110 additional years, without the possibility of parole and was ordered to pay $690,294.11 in restitution to victims' families and insurance companies. Judge Nora Manella scolded Furrow during the proceeding, saying, "Your actions were a stark and brutal reminder that bigotry is alive, if not well."
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
, when white supremacist
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
Buford O. Furrow, Jr.
Buford O. Furrow, Jr.
Buford O'Neal Furrow, Jr. is a former Aryan Nations member and security guard who perpetrated the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting in August 1999...
walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills
Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California
Granada Hills is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.It is located just north of the North Hills and Northridge districts, west of the Mission Hills and Sylmar districts, and just east of the Porter Ranch district. It is accessible by the Ronald Reagan , San...
and opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon, fired 70 shots into the complex. The gunfire wounded five people: three children, a teenage counselor, and an office worker. Shortly thereafter, Furrow murdered a mail carrier
Mail carrier
A mail carrier, mailman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman , postman/postwoman , letter carrier or postie is an employee of the post office or postal service, who delivers mail and parcel post to residences and businesses...
, fled the state, and finally surrendered to authorities.
History
Months prior to the shooting, Buford O. Furrow had been treated for mental illness while in the custody of the state of Washington.Events
On August 7, Furrow bought a used red Chevrolet van in Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, and loaded it with five rifles, two pistols, 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a flak jacket. Furrow considered attacking three Jewish institutions: the Skirball Cultural Center
Skirball Cultural Center
The Skirball Cultural Center is an educational institution in Los Angeles, California devoted to sustaining Jewish heritage and American democratic ideals. Open to the public since 1996, the Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to exploring the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage...
, the American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
's Museum of Tolerance, but security measures presented too much of a problem.
Furrow proceeded to drive from Washington to the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
with the stated purpose of "killing Jews". Three days later, Furrow pulled off the freeway into the Granada Hills area of Los Angeles and made his way to the North Valley Jewish Community Center just before 11 a.m. There were about 250 children playing outside when Furrow walked into the lobby carrying an Uzi-type submachine-gun. He opened fire, spraying bullets from right to left, leaving smoke and more than 70 casings on the ground. When he was done, a receptionist, a camp counselor and three little boys were wounded.
Furrow fled the scene in his van. Twenty minutes later, he carjacked a woman's Toyota at gunpoint, left the van behind, and then dumped the Toyota at a Chatsworth motel.
The shootings ended with the death of USPS postal worker Joseph Santos Ileto in Chatsworth
Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California
Chatsworth is a district of Los Angeles, California, United States; in the northwestern San Fernando Valley. The district is bordered by the Santa Susana Mountains and unincorporated Los Angeles County lands to the north, Porter Ranch to the northeast, Northridge to the east, West Hills, Canoga...
, a few miles away from the center. Ileto had just delivered mail to a home and was returning to his postal truck when Furrow asked Ileto to mail a letter for him. As Ileto agreed, Furrow pulled out a Glock 9mm handgun and shot Ileto nine times. Later, Furrow would confess that he murdered Ileto because he thought Ileto was Latino or Asian (Ileto was Filipino American
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
), and because Ileto was a federal employee.
Police found Furrow's abandoned van, where they discovered a cache of ammunition, rifle magazines, bulletproof vests, a Ranger Handbook, and freeze-dried food. Two books by Richard Kelly Hoskins, a Lynchburg, Virginia, leader of the Christian Identity
Christian Identity
Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...
movement were also found; a copy of the book War Cycles, Peace Cycles, and Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of Phineas Priesthood, a book which according to the ADL
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
justifies racist acts of violence.
Furrow fled 275-miles in an $800 taxi ride from Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, ending the manhunt by walking into an FBI office to confess, saying "You're looking for me, I killed the kids in Los Angeles." Furrow also stated that he wanted his shooting to be "a wakeup call to America to kill Jews."
Victims
The injured included a 5-year-old boy, Benjamin Kadish, who was hit in the abdomen and leg, losing 50 percent of his blood; two 6-year-old boys, Joshua Stepakoff and James Zidell, a 16-year-old girl, Mindy Finkelstein, who was hit in her right thigh and shin; and 68-year-old receptionist Isabelle Shalometh, who was grazed on the arm and back.Joseph Ileto died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the back of the head. He was found dead in a driveway. At Ileto's funeral, messages of condolence from numerous politicians were read by Congressman Brad Sherman.
Of the five people injured in the shooting at the Community Center, all eventually recovered. Benjamin Kadish, the 5-year old boy, was the most seriously injured victim. Upon arriving at the Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, "He had no blood pressure, no pulse, so that would put you at the most critical condition you could possibly be in," according to the emergency room physician, but Kadish was eventually stabilized after six hours of surgery. Kadish was released from hospital on September 23, 1999, approximately one month after the shooting.
Reaction
In 2004, on the fifth anniversary of the shootings, families of the victims and local officials called for stricter gun control and hate crime legislation. Ismael Ileto, Joseph's brother, said: "We miss him very much ... and we cannot understand why someone would take the life of my brother. He was just doing his job when he was killed." Ileto was honored by having a post office in Chino Hills, CaliforniaChino Hills, California
Chino Hills is a Los Angeles suburb located in the southwestern corner of San Bernardino County, California, United States. The city borders Los Angeles County on its northwest side, Orange County to its south, and Riverside County to its southeast...
named for him.
Sentencing of Furrow
Initially, Furrow pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of murder in killing Ileto and state charges of attempted murder for shooting the five people in the Jewish center, although he reportedly confessed to the shootings in interviews with detectives.Prosecutors in the case, who said Furrow admitted to his crimes stating they were motivated by racial hatred, promised to seek the death penalty if the case went to trial, which lead to a lengthy legal battle with Furrow's defense team. The case was further complicated by defense claims that Furrow suffered from serious psychiatric problems.
On January 24, 2001 Furrow pleaded guilty to all of the 16 felony counts against him (which include a murder charge for the shooting of Ileto, six counts of civil rights violations and nine weapons charges). In exchange for pleading guilty, Furrow avoided a possible death sentence, but instead agreed to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to the indictment, Furrow expressed no regrets for any of his crimes.
On March 26, 2001, at his sentencing hearing, Furrow was sentenced to two consecutive life terms, plus 110 additional years, without the possibility of parole and was ordered to pay $690,294.11 in restitution to victims' families and insurance companies. Judge Nora Manella scolded Furrow during the proceeding, saying, "Your actions were a stark and brutal reminder that bigotry is alive, if not well."