Ex-KKK Leader Is Jewish Center Shooting Suspect

Frazier Cross, 73, arrested in Kansas City shootings
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 13, 2014 10:37 PM CDT
Updated Apr 14, 2014 7:51 AM CDT
Ex-KKK Leader Is Jewish Center Shooting Suspect
Members of the ATF and FBI search a house belonging to Frazier Glenn Cross, also known as Frazier Glenn Miller, near Marionville, Mo.   (AP Photo/Springfield News-Leader, Nathan Papes)

The suspect accused of shooting three people dead at two Kansas City-area Jewish sites has been identified as a former "grand dragon" of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, says 73-year-old Frazier Glenn Cross has a long history of racist and anti-Semitic behavior, NBC reports. He is suspected of shooting dead a 14-year-boy and his grandfather in the parking lot of a Jewish community center before killing a woman at a nearby retirement home. More:

  • Police say Cross, who has been booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, smiled and made an anti-Semitic statement when he was arrested near the community center, reports the Kansas City Star. They declined to confirm reports that he shouted "Heil Hitler."

  • Cross—who also uses the name Frazier Glenn Miller—tried to buy radio ads denouncing Jews and the federal government during a 2010 write-in campaign for the US Senate from Missouri. "We've sat back and allowed the Jews to take over our government, our banks, and our media," one ad said.
  • In a 2010 interview with Howard Stern, Cross accused Jews of "committing genocide against the white race" and said Adolf Hitler was "the greatest man who ever walked the Earth," the New York Times finds. Asked who he hated more, Jewish people or African Americans, Cross responded, "Jews. A thousand times more. Compared to our Jewish problem, all other problems are mere distractions."
  • The Anti-Defamation League described the shootings as a "cowardly, unspeakable and heinous act of violence." While it is too early to call the shootings a hate crime, "the fact that two Jewish institutions were targeted by the same individual just prior to the start of the Passover holiday is deeply troubling and certainly gives us pause," the group's regional director said in a statement.
  • The two victims shot at the community center have been identified as Dr. William Lewis Corporon, who died at the scene, and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, who died at the hospital, the AP reports. They were both members of a nearby Methodist church and were at the community center for the grandson to try out for a local singing competition.
(More Frazier Glenn Cross stories.)

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