NAACP leader: prosecute African-American suspect 'like any other hate crime'

Mfume asks that Reno 'use the full power of your office to prosecute Mr. Taylor equally and as aggressively as you would anyone else charged with perpetrating a hate crime'

March 11, 2000
Web posted at: 2:39 a.m. EST (0739 GMT)

In this story: All victims were white Taylor charged with ethnic intimidation RELATED STORIES, SITES

BALTIMORE (CNN) -- The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said Friday that the case against an African-American charged with killing three white men and critically wounding two others should be treated "like any other hate crime."

In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, Kweisi Mfume said, "Although the majority of hate crimes in this country tend to be against African Americans, in this instance the man charged in these murders, Mr. Ronald Taylor, is an African American. I implore you to use the full power of your office to prosecute Mr. Taylor equally and as aggressively as you would anyone else charged with perpetrating a hate crime."

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Police say Taylor, 39, began his rampage early Wednesday last week, when he shot a maintenance worker at his Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, apartment. The man died later.

Taylor allegedly then set the apartment afire, walked to a nearby Burger King, and shot and killed a former priest who was drinking coffee.

Prosecutors say Taylor then walked across the street to a McDonald's restaurant, where he shot a man as he sat in his van in the parking lot, and another man who was sitting in his car at the takeout window.

Taylor is then said to have entered the restaurant, walked behind the counter, and shot the restaurant's assistant manager in the head.

All of the victims were white. At one point during the rampage, investigators and witnesses said, he told a black woman, "Not you, sister."

Police said they found a spiral notebook containing handwritten anti-white and anti-Jewish comments in Taylor's apartment. One note said "DEATH TO JERUSALEM" along with an anti-Semitic obscenity, police 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-NEWS MEDIA," and "ANTI- ITALIAN," police said.

Yet another note allegedly mentioned "WHITE TRASH" along with an obscene epithet, police said.

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, according to police.

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

Local authorities have charged Taylor with "ethnic intimidation," the state's version of a hate crime.

"The NAACP believe that violent acts of bigotry, no matter what the skin color is of the perpetrator, should not be tolerated," wrote Mfume.

"The deadly Wilkinsburg shooting rampage should be treated like any other hate crime and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

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

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