Jewish organizations on alert after fatal shootings in Kansas
By HEATHER NORRIS, Courtesy of the Baltimore Jewish Times
(JNS.org) — Kansas’s tight-knit Jewish community was rocked just one day before the beginning of Passover as an alleged gunman took the lives of three people and injured another in attacks just minutes apart outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park and a local retirement village.
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. (Credit: Facebook.)
According to various news reports, at about 1:00 p.m., shots were reported outside the JCC’s theater entrance, where auditions were being held for a singling competition for area teenagers. One man, identified as retired Oklahoma physician Dr. William Lewis Corporon, 69, was killed at the scene, while his grandson, 14-year-old Reat Griffin Underwood (Losen) died after being rushed to a local hospital. Reports suggest that Underwood, who was an Eagle Scout candidate (Life Scout), was planning on taking part in the “KC Superstar” singing competition being held at the JCC, hoping to win a college scholarship.
The suspect, identified as Frasier Glenn Miller (aka Fraiser Glenn Cross, Jr.), 73, —described later in the day by police officers who apprehended him as a bearded white male —then fled to the Village Shalom retirement community and opened fire, killing Terri LaManno, 53, a therapist who worked with visually impaired children and was visiting her mother at the home.
The shooter fled to a nearby school, where he was arrested.
Two others were shot at, but not injured. Some reports said that asked people if they were Jewish before firing his weapon and that he shouted “Heil Hitler” about the time of his arrest.
A post on the JCC’s Facebook page says the institution would be closed Monday. As people in cities across the country finished their last-minute Passover preparations—the eight-day festival begins Monday night—JCCs, across the country, benefited from a beefed-up police presence.
While the FBI and local police have not officially called the violence a hate crime, many national organizations are not waiting for confirmation to denounce the shootings.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first time there has been a shooting at a Jewish Community Center,” read a statement from B’nai B’rith International. “Comments attributed to the shooter after police had him in custody demonstrate a blind hatred toward Jews.”
The Anti-Defamation League, meanwhile, noted that just a week before, it released a security bulletin to communal institutions warning of the increased potential for violence around Passover and the April 20 birthday of Adolf Hitler. That day “has historically been marked by extremist acts of violence and terrorism, including the violence at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the Oklahoma City bombing,” read the statement.
“We mourn the tragic loss of life in today’s shootings in the Overland Park, Kan., Jewish community,” Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said in a statement. “Information about the perpetrator is still being uncovered, but early reports indicate that anti-Semitism may have been a factor. If so, it is a tragic reminder, this day before Jews around the world observe Passover, of the hatred that continues to plague our world.”
“It is also yet another horrific instance of an act of senseless violence involving the use of guns to take innocent lives,” continued Saperstein. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and injured in today’s shootings. May the memories of those lost be forever a blessing.”
