Three people are dead, one 15-year old teenaged boy is in critical condition, and one other injured victim after two separate attacks almost two miles apart in suburban Kansas City, Kansas. “A suspect has been arrested and was heard yelling ‘heil Hitler’ as he was taken into custody.” YNet News reports. The suspect is described as a white male in his 70s and police were careful to identify him only as a “person of interest.”
Police state a shotgun or assault rifle “was involved,” and a handgun may have been involved also.
The attacks took place on the eve of Passover, an important Jewish holiday.
The crime scenes are two Jewish-related organizations, the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Greater Kansas City and the Village Shalom assisted living facility. The JCC “was full of teens who were auditioning for Kansas City Superstar, the local version of American Idol, with their parents frantically trying to get to the children,” YNet News adds.
Police state the victims at the JCC were two males, and the victim at the assisted living facility was female.
The attacks took place around 1:00 PM local time.
Kansas City, Kansas in near the Kansas-Missouri border.
Although there is no indication of the background of the suspect, the Southern Poverty Law Center lists one active neo-Nazi hate group in Kansas, and three active white nationalist groups in Missouri.
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Rabbi on @CNN: gunman asked if victim was jewish, if they said yes, shot them. killed a teenager an elderly woman, 1 more
— Ron Kampeas (@kampeas) April 13, 2014
A police spokesperson said these acts may be investigate as hate crimes and the FBI has been called in.
This is a developing story.
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