Overland Park, KS – Three people were killed Sunday afternoon at two different Jewish community facilities in a Kansas City-area suburb, and a man was in custody as authorities investigated whether or not the shootings were anti-Semitic, authorities said.
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Police said it was too early to determine a motive for the shootings, but they were not ruling out the possibility that the shootings were a hate crime. They have called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist with the investigation, Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said in a news conference.
“We know it’s a vicious act of violence. Obviously two Jewish facilities, one might make that assumption.” Douglass said.
The shootings started around 1 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas. Two male victims in a parking lot outside the center were shot, with one dying at the scene and another later at a hospital. The shooter then drove just a mile away to the Village Shalom retirement community that provides skilled nursing services for residents. A female was shot and killed there, Douglass said.
Two other people were shot at, but not hit, the police chief said, and a shotgun was involved and possibly other types of guns.
The suspect, a bearded white male in his 70s, was taken into custody in the parking lot of a nearby elementary school, Douglass said. Douglass declined to identify the suspect, but said he was not from Kansas.
Douglass said he could not confirm reports from witnesses that the suspect had yelled “Heil Hitler” while in the back of the squad car after being taken into custody.
“The suspect in the back of a car made several statements,” Douglass said. “We are sifting through and vetting those for accuracy, number one, and number two we are looking at them for their evidentiary value.”
The Jewish Community Center, which is also the site of Kansas City’s only Jewish community day school, the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, was a hub of activity on Sunday. Several youth groups were meeting, some people were auditioning in the facility’s theater for an upcoming music production, people were exercising in the center’s gym, and the academy was preparing for a school dance.
Many non-Jewish people regularly were involved in the facility’s many activities.
Bailey Wainestock, 16, was one of nine teenagers attending a youth organization meeting at the community center when the shooting took place. They barricaded the door and remained locked in for more than an hour until security officers rushed them out.
“We didn’t know what to think, we were all in shock,” Bailey Wainestock told Reuters.
Her father, David Wainestock, who rushed to the Jewish center to retrieve his daughter, said the situation was terrifying.
“It’s pretty traumatic,” David Wainestock said. “The thought of something like that happening is terrifying. “In the Midwest we think we’re safe from this type of thing. But I guess it doesn’t make any difference now.”
Rabbi David Glickman, of the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Overland Park, also rushed to the Jewish Community Center when he heard the news of the shooting.
The Kansas City area has a Jewish community of about 20,000.
“This is so abberational. Everybody is shocked that it would happen here,” said Glickman. “This is a community that enjoys very strong and positive relations between the Jewish community and the rest of the community.”
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback called the shootings “senseless.”
“We will pursue justice aggressively for these victims,” Brownback said in a statement.
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Please let this not be true.
I hope there is the death penalty on Kansas.
Nebach
This person should be sent to the chair ASAP.
This is obviously completely horrible and I can only imagine if we are in a new stage of hate and anti-Semitism elicited in America. H’YD.
I would be very curious if the media actually follows this story as they did with the recent Fort Hood shooters. I did see it mentioned a few times on CNN today but not a break away scene like they did for other atrocities.
I do wonder myself if Jewish crime against our people is swept under the table in America with the media as they are today. Will this coverage continue for a few weeks until we know the origins of the gun man, his priorities and many details as we tried to profile the killers in the recent stories such as Fort Hood?
Will America take up concern for its Jewish people on the hash of this hate and terror or will just this be a story at 11 o’clock and no more discussion.
Seems this is a very deeply horrible planned event of course and we should know more.
Never Again.
A lesson to all those who think Jews are safe in America, and who refuse to appreciate Hashem’s immense gift to the Jewish people of the State of Israel. Wake up and thank Hashem that He gave us Israel after 2,000 years. Sometimes, the hardest thing to say is “thank you.”
There were armed guards at one time, at the local JCC, which I belonged to. The guards were at the JCC for a while, as well as at the local Jewish nursing home. Unfortunately, there was opposition to their presence from some in the community, who didn’t like seeing people with guns around. Unfortunately, these kinds of armed intrusions at JCC’s, Federations, Shuls, and other Jewish institutions have occurred before, in recent years. There must be a greater priority placed on security by the local communities, to deter these Jew haters from striking. In EY, and at many Synagogues in Europe, there appears to be much better security. My condolences to all of the bereaved families.
Are all/any of the people jewish?
any comment from Obama
We don’t have to be in the Ukraine or Arab lands to be murdered buy antisemites as they are right here H.Y.D.
ppl start getting your firearms before it’s too late.
not saying you need to walk with it all over the place, but when attacked you can’t say one minute i need to go to the store.
The Governor of kansas Sam Brownback is a good friend of the Jewish community
from his days when he was Senator. I have had a number of dealings with him
both in DC and Jerusalem at conferences I helped put together. I am sure he will make available all resources to legally bring this person to justice.
Really horrible. And this shooter was 70 years old! That’s not the usual profile.
We are accustomed to being very free in the US. It is a gift, but as you can see, sometimes, the quiet is violated.
So awful. H”YD
You seemed surprised that Seniors can commit heinous crimes. Several years ago, a Nazi, nearly 90 years ago, walked into the Holocaust Museum in D.C., with a rifle, and shot and killed an armed guard. He was cut down by the other guards. These kinds of incidents, although rare, are not uncommon. In 1977, a Nazi sniper shot and killed a Jew coming out out of a Shul, after a Bar Mitzvah, near St. Louis. The killer was finally executed a few months ago. In 1997, another Nazi shot up an L.A. JCC, injuring a number of members. Another Jew hater, shot up a Federation in Seattle, killing an employee. He received life. In 1986, a Canadian Chassidic man was shot numerous times in Pittsburgh, as he was leaving a Shul on Pesach. Before he died, he gave the cops a description of the shooter. The shooter (also a Nazi) was finally convicted in 2002, but he only received twenty years. In 1977, a group of Black Muslims invaded the ADL in D.C., and beat and held hostage the employees, for nearly two days.
Unfortunately there is little or no evidence that you know history. Hjalmar Greely Schacht ,Hitler financial wizard in 1934 came to the U.S. for a bailout because Hitler was broke. He received a loan from an investment company in New York headed by James Forrestal. Recently a Hungarian anti-Semitic radio program was protested and the financial support according to the Hungarian sources derives from the U.S. Maybe a little less hubris and more knowledge of history. what help you tremendously. This incident is a remnant of the Nazis still striving in the U.S. Don’t the white hooded crusaders with the cross the alleged murderer iis one of them, President Obama has made a statement and so far not one statement has been made by your conservative darlings. The governor Kansas is a Republican Brownback and has promised full effect of all judicial forces