First Wilkinsburg shootings victim buried

March 4, 2000
Web posted at: 7:49 p.m. EST (0049 GMT)

In this story: Police say 'Satan List' found Handwriting analysis planned 'How many times can you execute somebody?' Neighbor denies racial motive RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports.

WILKINSBURG, Pennsylvania -- Funeral services have been conducted for John Kroll, the first victim of Wednesday's shooting spree outside of Pittsburgh that left three men dead and two critically injured.

AUDIO Listen to witnesses recount the shooting. 163K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO Taylor is portrayed by people around him and investigators as a racist. CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K 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

Kroll was a maintenance worker at the Wilkinsburg apartment building where Ronald Taylor, the suspected gunman, lived. Services were held Saturday at Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Cabot, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Funerals for Joseph Healy, 71 of Wilkinsburg, and Emil Sanielevici, 20, of Pittsburgh will be held Monday.

The wounded -- Richard Clinger, 56, who was shot in the head while drinking coffee in his van in the parking lot outside a McDonald's restaurant, and Steven Bostard, the restaurant's 25-year-old assistant manager -- remained hospitalized Saturday.

Clinger's condition was upgraded Friday from critical to serious. Bostard remains in critical condition, said Linda Reid, a spokeswoman for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Presbyterian Hospital.

President Clinton referred to the deaths of Kroll; Healy, a former priest; and Sanielevici, a student at the University of Pittsburgh, in his weekly radio address Saturday.

Calling for new gun-safety regulations, Clinton also cited Michigan first-grader Kayla Rolland, who was shot to death Tuesday, allegedly by a classmate.

Kroll, 55, was one of two white maintenance workers allegedly targeted by Taylor, who is black. He was shot in the head, after John DeWitt, the other maintenance worker, was called away to work on another job in the building.

They had gone to Taylor's apartment to repair a door.

Taylor was indicted on a third charge of criminal homicide on Friday after Sanielevici died Thursday night after more than 24 hours on life support.

Police said Taylor -- an African American accused of fatally shooting three white men and critically wounding two others on Wednesday -- had a long list of groups he hated and that he may have targeted others.

A probable cause affidavit filed by police against Taylor, 39, offers a glimpse into the thoughts of a man police say was full of anger.

The affidavit was filed on Thursday to support a charge of "ethnic intimidation," the state's name for a hate crime, which was added to the criminal homicide, aggravated assault and arson charges already lodged against the suspected gunman.

Police say 'Satan List' found

Taylor was arraigned on a third count of criminal homicide on Friday

The affidavit was compiled from six pages of writings in a spiral notebook found in Taylor's apartment, where the rampage began, said Lt. John Brennan of the Allegheny County homicide squad.

One note was labeled "The Satan List." It named targets that included "J.D."

Brennan said police believe "J.D." is a reference to DeWitt.

"He told me I was a racist pig, white trash. I was just trying to ignore him," DeWitt said in an interview with CNN on Thursday. He said he told Taylor to "shut up" and left.

Kroll was shot a short time later and was the first of the victims to die. The apartment was then set on fire.

The other four men were shot in nearby fast-food restaurants, a Burger King and a McDonald's.

Handwriting analysis planned

The writings also listed names of businesses in the Wilkinsburg-Pittsburgh area, said Brennan, but he would not say what businesses.

One note said "Death to Jerusalem" along with an anti-Semitic obscenity, Brennan said.

A note entitled "personal feelings" listed racist names and opinions of groups, according to the affidavit. The note listed the headings: Anti-white, Anti-Jew, Anti-Asian, Anti-Christ, Anti-Uncle Tom, Anti-White Cops, Anti- America, Anti-Feds, Anti-Media and Anti-Italian.

Yet another note mentioned "white trash," along with an obscene epithet.

All of the notes were printed on lined paper in capital letters formed neatly by hand; most of them bore the name Ronald Taylor or R. Taylor, Brennan said.

A handwriting analysis will be conducted to determine whether the suspect was, in fact, the writer, authorities said.

'How many times can you execute somebody?'

The charge of ethnic intimidation "is not going to have any real effect on us anyway," said Brennan, adding that the other crimes Taylor is charged with could draw the death penalty.

"How many times can you execute somebody? This is definitely a first-degree murder. There's three of them," he said.

Brennan said there was no indication Taylor was a member of racial hate groups. Taylor has lived in the Pittsburgh area all his life and had no criminal record.

The FBI, which is pursuing the possibility of charging Taylor under federal hate-crimes legislation, has asked the Allegheny County police to share with them information about possible racial motives for the shootings, Brennan said.

James Ecker, Taylor's lawyer, declined to comment on Friday except to say his client feels bad about the victims.

A day earlier, the defense attorney had disputed allegations of a racial motive.

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

Taylor was unemployed and lived on Social Security payments under a program for people who are unable to work, Brennan said.

When Taylor was asked at a Thursday court appearance if he understood what he was accused of, he said, "Not really."

He told District Justice Alberta Thompson that he had no criminal record or history of drug use. But when asked if he had any history of mental illness, he said yes.

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," 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.

Suspect in shooting spree had long list of enemies, police say
March 3, 2000
Third victim of Pittsburgh-area shootings dies; hate crime charged
March 2, 2000
Suspect in custody after shooting spree kills 2, injures 3
March 1, 2000

Hate Crimes Prevention Act
Allegheny County Police
Federal Bureau of Investigation - FBI

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