Third victim of Pittsburgh-area shootings dies; hate crime charged

Taylor

March 3, 2000
Web posted at: 8:20 a.m. EST (1320 GMT)

In this story: Police: 'Anti-white, anti-Jew' 'You're dead' Neighbor disputes racial motive RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports.

WILKINSBURG, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A third victim of Wednesday's shooting spree in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg died Thursday night, shortly after suspected gunman Ronald Taylor was arraigned on charges including ethnic intimidation.

Authorities said Taylor would be arraigned again Friday and charged with another count of criminal homicide -- for the death of Emil Sanielevici, 20, who died Thursday after spending more than 24 hours on life support.

AUDIO Listen to witnesses recount the shooting. 163K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO Reporter Deborah Feyerick reports on the shootings in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K   INTERACTIVE Recent multiple shootings in the U.S.   MESSAGE BOARD Mass shootings

Taylor, an African-American, already was charged with two counts of criminal homicide in the first two deaths from the shooting spree.

He was arraigned late Thursday on one count of ethnic intimidation -- a state hate crimes charge -- for maliciously targeting white men, five counts of aggravated assault, arson and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

"There were obviously racial overtones," said Wilkinsburg Police Chief Gerald Brewer. "Witnesses were telling us he was going to kill white people. He obviously shot five white victims."

"There was no link to any of these people, except they were white," said Lt. John Brennan of the Allegheny County homicide squad.

Police said Taylor, 39, had "anti-white, anti-Jew" writings in his apartment.

But his lawyer discounts any racial motive in the shootings.

"I'm white, and I'm his lawyer, so I don't know that there's any racism in it. I've talked to him, and he's never told me because I'm white he doesn't want me present," said defense attorney James Ecker.

Asked at the arraignment if he understood what he was accused of, Taylor said, "Not really."

When District Justice Alberta Thompson asked Taylor if he had any criminal record or history of drug use, he said no. When she asked if he had any history of mental illness, he said yes. No other details about his history were available.

Police: 'Anti-white, anti-Jew'

Brennan said a search of Taylor's apartment Wednesday night turned up a notebook with writings he characterized as reflecting anger at whites.

He refused to disclose their contents and said he could not make them available to the public.

"They were just some of his thoughts. It was basically anti-white, anti-Jew," Brennan said.

The FBI has notified the Justice Department that it will be conducting a federal hate crime investigation into the shooting.

"We are now looking at this case as a hate crime," FBI Special Agent Dennis Lormel told Reuters. "We have alerted the Department of Justice that we have opened a preliminary investigation."

'You're dead'

An incident with maintenance workers at Taylor's apartment building apparently touched off the rage, authorities said. Police Sgt. John Fisher, who negotiated with Taylor during the standoff, said the suspect was upset that his apartment door wasn't fixed fast enough.

The trouble started after three maintenance workers -- two whites and a black -- went to Taylor's apartment to fix the door, which Taylor had knocked off its hinges after locking himself out.

"He said, 'You're all white trash, racist pigs,'" said John DeWitt, one of the maintenance workers. "He looked at me and said, 'You're dead.'"

DeWitt, who is white, said he was then called away to work on another job in the building. John Kroll, the other white worker, was subsequently shot.

The black maintenance man, Andrew Williams, was unharmed.

Williams' wife told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Taylor told her husband that he "didn't like white people" before Kroll was shot in the neck at point-blank range and killed.

It's alleged that Taylor then set his own apartment on fire before heading to the two restaurants. One man was shot at a Burger King and three others at a McDonald's during lunch time.

Neighbor denies racial motive

Christine McCrae, who is black, said Wednesday that Taylor ran through her house on the way to the office building. He assured her that she was not a target, she said.

"'I'm not going to hurt any black people. I'm just out to kill all white people.' That's exactly what he said," she told CNN affiliate WTAE-TV.

But Monique Frost, 29, a mental health therapist who is a neighbor of Taylor's, discounted the theory that race played a role in Taylor's actions, noting that the apartment fire put black neighbors in danger.

"I know he made some racial statements, but he set that fire in a building where all African-Americans live with the exception of one Caucasian," Frost said. "And he didn't warn anybody. The people in that building could have died."

As police interviewed witnesses to determine whether the shootings were racially motivated, Wilkinsburg's black mayor denied any underlying racial problems in the blue-collar town, whose population of 22,000 is almost evenly split between black and white residents.

"All our institutions here are diverse. We pride ourselves on that diversity and the fact that we worked together for many years to make this a stronger and better community," Mayor Wilbert Young told CNN.

"Folks are shocked and stunned and saddened at what occurred here (Wednesday)," Young said. "We have to start the healing process and try to get the community back to normal, try to find a way to have people feel safe."

Hours after the shootings, about 40 residents held a candlelight vigil against violence, and people said they would volunteer to sponsor their own gun buyback program in hopes of reducing the number of firearms in the community.

Reporter Deborah Feyerick, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Allegheny County Police
Federal Bureau of Investigation - FBI

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