KCTV in Kansas City reports:
A man yelled, “Heil Hitler,” after he was taken into custody in connection with the fatal shooting of three at two Jewish-related sites in the Kansas City area.
Two males were killed outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. A female was killed a few minutes later in the parking lot at Village Shalom, an assisted living facility.
The suspect shot at two other people, but the bullets did not hit them, said Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass.
The victims apparently did not know their killer, Douglass said.
The suspect is a man in his 70s who wasn’t known to Overland Park authorities before Sunday. He is not from Kansas. His vehicle apparently had Missouri plates. Douglass wouldn’t say whether the man, who is being held at the Johnson County Jail, is from Missouri.
Douglass also wouldn’t say whether the shootings were anti-Semitic hate crimes. He said authorities are evaluating comments that the suspect made after he was arrested.
It is a joint federal-state investigation with the offices of U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom and Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe involved.
CNN is reporting that one of the victims is a 14-year-old boy.
The suspect was arrested at the Valley View Park Elementary School, which is a mile away from Village Shalom. KCTV5’s Bonyen Lee says the suspect appeared to yell “Heil Hitler” as he was being led away in handcuffs by Overland Park police.
Douglass said the first 911 call about the JCC shooting came at 1:03 p.m. This happened outside the Lewis and Shirley White Theatre, which was packed.
Update: The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the suspected shooter, Frazier Glenn Miller, aka Frazier Glenn Cross, is a former Ku Klux Klan leader with a long history of antisemitic and white supremacist activity.
It’s no surprise to learn that two of the victims, a doctor and his 14-year-old grandson, were not Jewish. They were at the Jewish Community Center for an area-wide singing contest.
Further update: The third shooting victim, a 53-year-old woman, was not Jewish either. It says something good about the US that non-Jews feel welcome at Jewish facilities. Of course that doesn’t make what happened in Overland Park any less of an antisemitic hate crime.
