Kansas JCC bombing ripples in Miami

Isabelle Carbajales, Co-News Editor

As Passover begins, Kansas citizens and those around the world mourn the lives lost in the shooting that took place on Sunday, April 12, 2014 at 1 p.m.

Gunman Frazier Glenn Miller opened fire at two Jewish facilities killing three victims. The first shots were fired at the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas. William Jewish Corporon and his grandson, Reat Underwood, 14, were shot while visiting JCC for a singing contest. Only a few minutes later, Teri LaManno, 53, was killed while visiting her mother at the Village Shalom assisted living center.

Witnesses have stated that Frazier, a former Grand Dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, yelled anti-Semitic comments saluting Adolf Hitler after the shooting. Prior to this shooting, he had been imprisoned for weapons and threatening communication charges. After taking a plea deal that required him to testify against other Ku Klux Klan members, most white supremacists no longer associate with him.

Junior, Regina del Castillo is president of the Miami Region B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) is outraged with events that occurred in Kansas.

“It still shocks me to hear these tragic events. In such a predominantly Jewish community that I live in, I sometimes forget about people that are intolerant of anything other than what they believe in. Ironically, he yelled anti-semetic comments after he shot people that turned out to not even be Jewish,” Del Castillo said. “It’s just appalling to believe these things still occur and we haven’t advanced past this hate.”

Miller has been filed with one count of capital murder and one count of premeditated first-degree murder. If he is convicted of these crimes he will spend life in prison without parole and possibly the death penalty.