On August 10, 1999, at around 10:50 a.m. PT, American

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

Buford O. Furrow Jr. walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and opened fire with an Uzi sub machine gun, firing 70 bullets 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 the authorities.

History

Buford O'Neal Furrow Jr. (born November 25, 1961) grew up in

Lacey, Washington Lacey is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Olympia, Washington, Olympia with a population of 53,526 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Washington, 24th mos ...

and graduated from

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, s ...

in 1986, with a degree in engineering. During the 1980s, he worked for

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

and

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

and in the 1990s, became involved with white supremacist Richard Girnt Butler's movement, where he was part of the security detail at Butler's Hayden Lake, Idaho compound. Months prior to the shooting, Furrow had been treated for mental illness while in the custody of the state of Washington. He had been married to Debbie Mathews (the widow of Robert Jay Mathews, the deceased neo-Nazi terrorist who founded The Order), whom he had met at the

Aryan Nations Aryan Nations is a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate group that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake. Richard Girnt Butler founded Aryan N ...

headquarters in Idaho.

Events

On August 7, Furrow bought a used red Chevrolet van in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

and loaded it with five

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

s, 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 American Jewish University (AJU) is a Private university, private Jewish university in Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 2007 from the merger of the University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute. AJU's academic division includes ...

and the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

's Museum of Tolerance, but the presence of armed guards deterred him."The Kids Got In The Way: All the warning signs were there, but still Buford Furrow got his hands on guns and went on a rampage." ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. 154.8. August 23, 1999. p24."A Visitor from the Dark Side: The accused L.A. gunner drove into town on a high of delusion and self-destruction." ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

''. 134.9. August 23, 1999. p32. Furrow proceeded to drive again from Washington to the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

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,"Suspect in L.A. Shootings Surrenders in Las Vegas -- He may be charged in second gun attack." ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

''. August 11, 1999. pA1. 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, leaving a receptionist, a camp counselor and three boys 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.: "Manhunt; Police on suspect's trail after children are gunned down in school." '' Birmingham Evening Mail''. August 11, 1999. p13. The shootings ended with the death of USPS postal worker Joseph Santos Ileto (born March 19, 1960) 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 Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

9mm handgun and shot Ileto nine times. Later, he would confess that he murdered Ileto because he thought Ileto was Latino or Asian (Ileto was

Filipino American Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...

), because Ileto was a federal employee."Joined Against Hate Crimes Families of Victims Speak Out About Gun Violence". ''Daily News''. August 11, 2004. pN4. Police found Furrow's abandoned van, where they discovered a cache of ammunition, rifle magazines,

bulletproof vest A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or bullet-resistant vest, is a type of body armor designed to absorb impact and prevent the penetration of firearm projectiles and explosion fragments to the torso. The vest can be either soft ...

s, homemade explosives, a Ranger Handbook, and freeze-dried food. Two books by Richard Kelly Hoskins, a Lynchburg, Virginia, leader of the

Christian Identity Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or the Aryan race and kindred peoples, are ...

movement were also found; a copy of the book ''War Cycles, Peace Cycles'', and ''Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of the Phineas Priesthood'', a book which according to the Anti-Defamation League justifies antisemitic and

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

acts of violence. Furrow fled 275-miles in an $800 taxi ride from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, 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 of 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 the hospital on September 23, 1999, approximately one month after the shooting.

Reaction

The shooting prompted a national movement, the Million Mom March, which culminated in dozens of marches across the U.S. on Mother's Day 2000, calling for increased gun control. The Southern California Regional Million Mom March, which was held at the birthplace of Los Angeles - Olvera Street - brought more than 10,000 "mothers and others" from five counties together demanding change and protection for children against gun violence. Marches were held in major cities, including the main March in Washington, D.C. 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, California 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 led 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.

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

Judge Nora Manella excoriated Furrow during the proceeding, saying, "Your actions were a stark and brutal reminder that bigotry is alive, if not well." In 2009, Furrow claimed to have renounced racism and neo-Nazism. He is currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Minnesota.