Overland Park, KS – The suspect in the killing of three people at two Jewish facilities near Kansas City over the weekend could face the death penalty on state murder charges filed Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, who also goes by the name Glenn Miller, likely will face federal charges that also could carry the death penalty in the killings Sunday afternoon in Overland Park, Kansas, an upscale suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.
Cross was known by law enforcement and human rights groups as a former senior member of the Ku Klux Klan movement and someone who has repeatedly expressed hatred for Jewish people. None of the people he is accused of killing were Jewish.
Prosecutors charged Cross on Tuesday in Johnson County, Kansas, with one count of capital murder in the fatal shooting of Reat Underwood, 14, and his grandfather William Corporon, 69, outside a Jewish community center on Sunday.
The Jewish Community Center where Underwood and Corporon were shot will hold an interfaith service of “unity and hope” on Thursday, and funeral services are set on Friday at the Methodist church the two attended.
Cross was also charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the shooting death of Terri LaManno, 53, outside the nearby Village Shalom Jewish retirement home. LaManno, who attends a Catholic church, was there visiting her mother.
Cross, who is being held on $10 million bond, told the court he had received a copy of the criminal complaint and requested court-appointed attorneys during an appearance via video that lasted less than two minutes on Tuesday afternoon.
“I don’t have the money,” Cross said.
Johnson County District Attorney Stephen Howe said the capital murder charge gives prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty, but he had not yet determined if he will pursue that. A conviction would automatically carry a sentence of life without parole.
“I don’t take that decision lightly,” Howe said. “He’s committed some terrible crimes. This is about making sure justice is done.”
The count of premeditated first-degree murder brings a sentence of up to life in prison, with parole not considered for 25 years, Howe said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a leading anti-hate group, has been tracking Cross for years, they said.
The group said he was involved in creating an armed paramilitary organization in North Carolina 20 years ago and is a “raging anti-Semite” who has posted online commentary such as “No Jews, Just Right” along with calls to “exterminate the Jews.” He served time in prison on weapons charges and for making threats through the mail, the group said.
Kansas’ U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said it is the bias and belief of the suspect, not the identities of the victims, that determines whether or not federal hate-crime laws apply.
Grissom said federal charges, which also could carry the death penalty, were not likely to be filed for a week or more.
The Kansas City-area shootings came as the number of violent attacks on Jews nationally has grown in the last few years, even though non-violent attacks have decreased, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
“The shooting at the Kansas Jewish community centers is a sad and tragic event which reminds us where the spread of anti-Semitism and racism can lead,” Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement.
Violent assaults on Jewish individuals or those perceived to be Jewish rose to 31 in 2013, up from 17 in 2012, 19 in 2011 and 22 in 2010, according to the group, which prepares an annual audit of incidents.
Cross’ next court appearance was scheduled on April 24.
Let’s hope this white supremicist KKK vermin gets the death penalty.
As always G-d watches over us and spoiled his plans but unfortunately he did kill three innocent people and one of which was only a child. Hateful people who have no fear of G-d and no respect for G-d’s creations should never be allowed the freedoms to preach and destroy and spread their poison to the weak and vulnerable. Someone like this who has no qualms about ending human life cannot be considered a “person” but rather an animal and should not be afforded the same rights as those who value “life” and follow at least that one area of moral conduct.
Whether he managed to kill the Jews he sought to extinguish or not he is still guilty of a hate crime because that was his intention and he planned to commit murder at those two locations. Whether or not god prosecuters should seek the death penalty or not should be up to the families of those that were killed. They should think that through and figure out if he would suffer more in prison for the rest of his life or face death himself. Personally I would give him the death penalty and I would choose to be there and watch him die. I would hope that they can do it in a huge auditorium so people of all faiths especially Jews who were his intended victims and Catholics who turned out to be his victims can watch him pay for his sins.
I am not a vindictive person but those who spout hatred deserve to be punished publicly for all to see, as an example of the outcome of such actions.
Why isn’t this pig in handcuffs
As far as I know, this particular incident, was the most heinous one specifically targeted against Jews in the USA. There have been other incidents in the past, where Jews were specifically targeted and killed, but they were all single homicide incidents. They were as follows:
1- 1977- The sniper attack outside a St. Louis Synagogue, killing one Jew. The perpetrator was recently put to death;
2- 1986- The killing of a Chassidic man on a subway station in Crown Heights. The police stated that it was a hate crime, but the perpetrator was never found;
3- 1986- The killing of a Chassidic Canadian man, visiting Pittsburgh, during Pesach. The killer received twenty years;
4- 2007-The killing of a Jewish woman at a Federation in Seattle. The killer received life;
There were other incidents, where Jews were targeted and injured, such as the Hanafi Muslim takeover of the ADL in D.C., in 1977, and the L.A. JCC shooting in 1997; in 2009, an 89 year old Nazi targeted the Holocaust D.C. museum, and killed a guard, before he was shot.
Ever been to MIssouri? Lots of us have. Ever feel any desire at all to go back? Me neither.
If he had 10M they would let him go?
To: #6 - Regarding the 1991 Crown Heights Pogrom, you were correct when you stated that Jews were attacked and injured. However, there were not thousands of Jews attacked. There were probably hundreds of Jews attacked. However, not all of the Jews looked the other way. Some fought back, as I’ve seen tapes of Yidden confronting the rioters. You were wrong when you stated that some were killed, meaning Jews. To the best of my knowledge, the only fatality was Yankel Rosenbaum. As far as I know, one of the killers is still being bars. The one who did the stabbing was convicted of civil rights violations, but because of some legal technicality, only received about seven years. Incidentally, who do you think that the Attorney was who appealed the sentence of the killer of Yankel Rosenbaum? It was a fellow Jew! An absolute shanda! It reminds me of the Yidden who defended O.J. Simpson (Barry Schecht, Robert Shapiro, and Alan Dershowitz)!