Jewish Centers Shooting Suspect ID'd as Former Ku Klux Klan Leader
The man accused of killing three people at two Overland Park, Kan. Jewish centers on Sunday has been identified as Frazier Glenn Miller, a 73-year-old white supremacist and the founder of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Miller, who also goes by Frazier Glenn Cross, founded the Carolina Knights in the 1980s and acted as the groups "Grand Dragon" until he was arrested and convicted of running an illegal paramilitary organization. In 1987, Miller was the subject of a nationwide manhunt for violating the terms of his bond; he was later found in a mobile home in rural Missouri, surrounded by grenades, automatic weapons, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. From the SPLC:
Miller [Cross] is a raging anti-Semite who has posted more than 12,000 times on Vanguard News Network (VNN), whose slogan is "No Jews, Just Right." VNN founder Alex Linder has openly advocated "exterminating" Jews since December 2009. Miller, a close partner to Linder, has called Jews "swarthy, hairy, bow-legged, beady-eyed, parasitic midgets." Miller is also one of VNN's largest donors and he printed and distributed thousands of copies of VNN's newsletter, The Aryan Alternative.
According to Overland Park police, at about 1 pm, Miller shot two people in the parking lot behind the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. He then drove to the parking lot of Village Shalom, a nearby Jewish retirement center, where he shot and killed a young woman. Overland Park police say Cross used a shotgun, a handgun, and possibly an assault rifle in the attack.
The two victims shot and killed at the Jewish Community Center have been identified as Dr. William Lewis Corporon and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood. Corporon and Underwood, both of whom are Methodist, were reportedly at the community center so Reat—a freshman in high school—could audition for a singing competition for local teenagers. From the Kansas City Star:
The gunfire at the west side of the Jewish Community Center came as hundreds of high school singers from across the metro area were expected to audition for the KC SuperStar contest and actors were rehearsing for a production of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
"There were tons of kids because this was about to start at 1 o'clock," said Ruth Bigus, the publicist for KC SuperStar.
The third victim's name has not yet been released. Miller was booked into a Johnson County jail on a preliminary charge of first-degree murder.
[Image via AP]