Richard Scott Baumhammers (born May 17, 1965)
[ is an American former ]immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...
attorney and spree killer
A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations w ...
who began a racially motivated crime spree on April 28, 2000, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, which left five individuals dead and one paralyzed.
Early life
Richard Baumhammers was born in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, to Andrejs and Inese Baumhammers, both Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
Latvian immigrants who fled the Soviet occupation
During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
of their homeland. Both parents would become faculty members of the University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
's School of Dental Medicine and would open a successful practice on Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping ...
, near the university. Baumhammers was the second child to Andrejs and Inese; his older sister Daina was born in 1963.[ The family settled in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon. Baumhammers was a second-string kicker on the ]Mt. Lebanon High School
Mt. Lebanon High School is a four-year, comprehensive high school located in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, with an enrollment of 1,801 students in grades 9–12 for the 2020–2021 school year. Its mascot is the Blue Devil.
History
The sc ...
football team.[
After completing high school in 1983, Baumhammers graduated from ]Kent State University
Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...
in Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
in 1989 and began law school at Cumberland Law School in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...
.[ A Cumberland classmate described Baumhammers as "gregarious, a good student, in the top third of his class." After graduating from Cumberland, Baumhammers enrolled in a specialized one-year international program at the University of the Pacific's ]McGeorge School of Law
University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law is a private, American Bar Association (ABA)-approved law school in the Oak Park neighborhood of the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the University of the Pacific and is located on t ...
in Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
, where he received a master's degree in transnational business practice and specialized in both immigration law
Immigration law refers to the national statutes, regulations, and legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly speaking, it is distinct from other matters such as naturalization and citizenship, although ...
and international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
.[
For several years in the mid-1990s, Baumhammers lived in ]Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
, Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, where he was listed with the International Law Section members of the Georgia Bar Association. He was an active member as of March 2000.[
]
Emotional instability
Richard Baumhammers returned to Pittsburgh in the late 1990s and lived with his parents following a series of emotional problems. Baumhammers had been treated for mental illness since 1993 and had voluntarily admitted himself to a psychiatric ward
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
at least twice. Later, he would obsess about his physical appearance, believing that his face had been scarred by sunlight. However, dermatologists told Baumhammers that his skin was "perfectly normal."[ His father, Andrejs, would later say that he had seen signs of mental illness since Baumhammers was four years old.][
]
Travel abroad
In 1993 Baumhammers traveled to Europe for a vacation, and upon returning home, his father was shocked by his son's emotional state. Andrejs would later testify that Baumhammers told him that during a visit to Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
, he became "euphoric
Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...
"; but that by the time he traveled to Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
, he believed people were following and harassing him.[
Andrejs would also claim later that Baumhammers told his parents that he could no longer speak openly to them because he believed the FBI was monitoring the house. Baumhammers insisted that his parents had to go into the basement to talk with him, using a pen and notepad.][ Andrejs Baumhammers claimed that Baumhammers even asked at one point to be taken to Dr. Kevorkian to help him commit suicide.][
Richard Baumhammers admitted himself to Pittsburgh's ]Western Psychiatric Institute
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is a $23billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 92,000 employees, 40 hospitals with more than 8,000 licensed beds, 800 clinical locations including outpatient sites and d ...
hospital and was diagnosed with delusional disorder
Delusional disorder is a mental illness in which a person has delusions, but with no accompanying prominent hallucinations, thought disorder, mood disorder, or significant flattening of affect.American Psychiatric Association. (2013). ''Diagnostic ...
of the persecutional type by Dr. Matcheri Keshavan.[ Over the next several years, Baumhammers would see eight psychiatrists, four clinical psychologists and try 16 different medications.][ After his release, Baumhammers stayed with his parents in their Mt. Lebanon home. He was a member of the ]Allegheny County
Allegheny County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, following Philadelphia C ...
Bar Association until he let his membership lapse in 1999.
In 1997, the now-unemployed Baumhammers traveled to Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...
, Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
, where he lived in an apartment on Kr. Barona Avenue which was less than a block from where his grandparents had lived in the mid-1930s. He acquired Latvian citizenship and sought to regain some of the family's properties lost during the Soviet occupation of Latvia. He made a claim under Latvia's de-nationalization process but was too late, as any claims had been required to be filed by 1996.
According to several people who associated with him in Latvia, Baumhammers mainly kept to himself. When he did socialize, he seemed to have felt most comfortable spending time with native Latvians and a few passing Latvian American
Latvian Americans are Americans who are of Latvian ancestry. According to the 2008 American Community Survey, there are 93,498 Americans of full or partial Latvian descent.
History
The first significant wave of Latvian settlers who immigrated ...
s.[ Those who met him in Latvia said they did not recall Baumhammers being prone to violence or ever espousing any racist remarks, and the Latvian government has no record of Baumhammers ever getting in trouble with authorities.][ Several Latvian acquaintances, however, described Baumhammers as intent on meeting women but "awkward."][
In the fall of 1999, Baumhammers was arrested in ]Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, for striking a 50-year-old female bartender named Vivianne Le Garrac because he "believed she was Jewish." Baumhammers then told both Le Garrac and the arresting officers that he was "mentally ill." The police took Baumhammers for evaluation to the psychiatric ward of the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...
, then detained him at a police station. By week's end, he left on a flight for Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
.
On April 27, 2000, Baumhammers would purchase a Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...
.357 Magnum
The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...
revolver in South Strabane Township, Pennsylvania
South Strabane Township is a township in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,616 at the 2020 census. The township is named after the town of Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
History
The Doak-Little ...
.[
]
Killing spree
On April 28, 2000, at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Richard Baumhammers walked to the home of his next-door neighbor, a 63-year-old Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
woman named Anita "Nicki" Gordon, and fatally shot her, then set her house on fire. Gordon had been friends with Baumhammers' parents for 31 years. Afterwards, Baumhammers jumped into his black Jeep Cherokee and drove to the Beth El Congregation in Scott Township, where Gordon was a member of the synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...
. There, he fired into the synagogue's windows, then exited his vehicle and spray-painted two red swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. I ...
s on the building.[
A short distance from the synagogue at the India Grocer in Scott Town Center, 31-year-old Anil Thakur, formerly of ]Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, was shot to death while picking up groceries during his lunch hour. A 25-year-old store manager named Sandeep Patel was shot in the neck and paralyzed. Patel would use a wheelchair for the next seven years before dying at the age of 32 in February 2007 from complications due to pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
at UPMC, in McCandless, Pennsylvania
McCandless is a township with home rule status in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,709 at the 2020 census. Though McCandless no longer operates under the First Class Township Code, it is classified as a first- ...
.
Baumhammers next drove to the Ahavath Achim Congregation in Carnegie, where he shattered the synagogue's glass windows with gunfire. At Robinson Town Centre
Robinson Town Centre is an expansive, open-air power center located near The Mall at Robinson in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. Announced on June 28, 1987, and completed in 1988, it is situated nearly 15 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh along ...
, about ten miles from his home, he walked into Ya Fei Chinese Cuisine where Chinese restaurant manager Ji-ye Sun, aged 34 and Theo "Tony" Pham, a 27-year-old Vietnamese American
Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...
cook were fatally shot in front of customers.[
From Robinson Town Center, Baumhammers drove to the C.S. Kim School of Karate in ]Center Township, Beaver County
Center Township is a township in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 11,632. It is a suburban community located approximately northwest of Pittsburgh. It is home to two colleges, Penn State ...
where Garry Lee, a 22-year-old African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
was exercising with a European American
European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent Eu ...
friend, George Thomas II. Baumhammers initially pointed the gun at Thomas, then turned and fired at Lee, killing him instantly.[
]
Arrest and trial
Richard Baumhammers was pulled over in his Jeep and arrested at 3:30 p.m. EDT in the town of Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Ambridge is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. Incorporated in 1905 as a company town by the American Bridge Company, Ambridge is located 16 miles (25 km) northwest of Pittsburgh, along the Ohio River. The population wa ...
. Baumhammers' spree lasted two hours and ran a 15-mile trail that spanned two counties and crossed three townships.
Baumhammers was charged with 19 crimes which included five counts of criminal homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
s, one count of attempted homicide, eight counts of ethnic intimidation, two counts of arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wate ...
, two counts of criminal mischief, one count of arson, one count of reckless endangerment of another person, one count of violation of uniform firearms act, two counts of institution vandalism and one count of aggravated assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in cri ...
.
When Pittsburgh police officers searched Baumhammers' Mt. Lebanon home, they found a document for the "Free Market Party," written by Baumhammers, which read like a manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
and listed him as the "chairman." The document purportedly champions the rights of European Americans and complains that minorities and immigrants are outnumbering them.[ Baumhammers had also created an internet website on which he called for "an end to non-white immigration" and stated that "almost all" present-day immigration "is non-European."
On May 1, 2000, Richard Baumhammers was arraigned on charges of homicide, arson, and ]hate crimes
A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...
. His bond was set at $1 million. On May 19, 2000, Allegheny County
Allegheny County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, following Philadelphia C ...
Common Pleas Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole ruled that Baumhammers was unfit to stand trial and ordered that Baumhammers undergo at least 90 days of psychiatric treatment. O'Toole made his decision after three psychiatrists examined Baumhammers, each coming to the conclusion that Baumhammers was psychologically unstable. The psychiatrists agreed that he was psychotic but used different words to describe his condition: paranoid schizophrenic, psychotic thought disorder, and delusional disorder. These confused reporters.
Nearly a year later, on May 9, 2001, a jury found Richard Baumhammers guilty on all nineteen charges. Two days later, on May 11, 2001, after deliberating for 20 minutes, the same jury requested that Baumhammers be executed for his crimes. Baumhammers was scheduled to die by lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
. He is currently incarcerated at Greene State Correctional Institute in Franklin Township, Pennsylvania, awaiting judicial appeal dates.[
On January 19, 2010, Pennsylvania Governor ]Ed Rendell
Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philad ...
signed an execution warrant for Baumhammers. He was scheduled to be put to death on March 18, 2010. On February 28, 2010, Allegheny County
Allegheny County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, following Philadelphia C ...
Judge Jeffrey A. Manning granted Baumhammers an indefinite stay of execution.
On November 26, 2019, Baumhammers lost an appeal of his conviction and death sentence.
See also
* List of attacks on Jewish institutions in the United States
* List of death row inmates in the United States
, there were 2,414 death row inmates in the United States. The number of death row inmates changes frequently with new convictions, appellate decisions overturning conviction or sentence alone, commutations, or deaths (through execution or otherw ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumhammers, Richard
1965 births
2000 murders in the United States
20th-century attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizations in the United States
American people convicted of arson
American people convicted of murder
American people of Latvian descent
American prisoners sentenced to death
American spree killers
American white supremacists
Antisemitism in Pennsylvania
Cumberland School of Law alumni
Immigration lawyers
Kent State University alumni
Living people
People with delusional disorder
People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania
People from Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Prisoners sentenced to death by Pennsylvania
Racially motivated violence against African Americans
Racially motivated violence against Asian-Americans
Racially motivated violence in the United States
Race and crime in the United States
Spree shootings in the United States
White nationalism in Pennsylvania