JCC gunman gets life in prison JCC gunman gets life sentence, but life is spared in plea bargain
By Tom Tugend
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
January 24, 2001
LOS ANGELES, — A white supremacist has pleaded guilty to
seriously wounding five
people in an August 1999 shooting rampage at a local Jewish community
center,
and then murdering a Filipino
American mail carrier.
In a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, Buford O. Furrow Jr., 39,
agreed Wednesday to a lifetime prison
sentence without possibility of parole, appeal or pardon.
Furrow was spared a possible death sentence after the prosecution and
defense concluded that he suffered
from mental illness and severe psychiatric problems.
On Aug. 10, 1999, Furrow sprayed the lobby of the North Valley JCC in
Granada Hills, Calif., with 70
bullets, wounding an adult receptionist, a teen-age counselor and three
young
campers.
Furrow then shot and killed mailman Joseph Ileto, because he was
``angered at the sight of a nonwhite
federal employee," U.S. Attorney Alejandro Mayorkas said at a news
conference
Wednesday.
In his attack on the Jewish center, Furrow shot the receptionist
``because he presumed her to be Jewish,"
Mayorkas said, and then fired indiscriminately at the children with intent
to
kill, ``because he presumed that they
were also Jewish."
In his initial confession to the FBI, Furrow said that he considered
the
JCC shooting ``a wake-up call to
America to kill Jews."
Furrow is a follower of the Aryan Nations, a racist and anti-Semitic
hate group.
Families of the now-recovered shooting victims did not appear at the
news conference. Some were
unavailable to comment, and others declined.
However, Mayorkas said he had spoken with the families before agreeing
to the plea bargain, and they
supported his decision.
The president of the North Valley JCC, Nancy Parris Moskowitz, told JTA
in a phone interview that ``we
are all relieved that we won't have to deal with the pain of appearing in a
lengthy court trial, and that this man won't
be in a position to harm anyone else.
``There are still many searing memories, but as an institution we are
moving forward, with the full support
of the Jewish community," Moskowitz said. ``All of as have also become more
involved in social issues, such as
hate crimes and gun control."
Furrow first scouted such high-profile Jewish institutions as the Simon
Wiesenthal Center and its Museum
of Tolerance, the University of Judaism and the Skirball Cultural Center, he
told investigators, but found security at
these places too tight.
Commenting on Furrow's guilty plea, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate
dean
of the Wiesenthal Center,
said that ``the cause of justice has been served. It is our hope that the
image of Furrow behind bars for life will serve
as a deterrent to others contemplating violent hate crimes."
David Lehrer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in
a
statement that ``the ADL believes
that justice has been served.
``A clear and unambiguous message has been sent that the commission of
hate crimes will result in
conviction and a severe penalty,'' Lehrer added.
Furrow's formal sentencing is scheduled for March 26.
