Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011402757.html
Life Sentence for Seattle Jewish Office Shooting
(AP/Washington Post) Gene Johnson - Naveed Haq, 34, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for killing one woman and wounding five others at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on July 28, 2006. Haq held a teenage girl at gunpoint as he forced his way into the center. He stalked through the second-floor office, firing as workers dove for cover beneath their desks or leapt from windows. Pamela Waechter, director of the charity's annual fundraising campaign, was killed as she fled down a stairwell. The shooting ended after Haq spoke with a 911 operator, criticized Israel and U.S. foreign policy, demanded to get on CNN, then gave himself up, saying he had made his point. Prosecutors detailed his extensive preparations for the attack - including writing anti-Israel manifestos, mapping the center's address on the Internet, and test-firing his guns as he drove toward Seattle. They also played jailhouse recordings of conversations in which Haq told his mother he had done "a good thing." King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas ruled: "Mr. Haq understood his plan, knew it was wrong and carried it out anyway."