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Naveed Haq Found Guilty

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Naveed Haq, does this man look sane to you?

A Seattle jury, deliberating for two and one-half days, found Naveed Haq guilty on all counts of aggravated first-degree murder. In 2006, this Pakistani-American with a delusional personality who’d been treated for 10 years for mental illness, kidnapped his way into the Seattle federation building where he proceeded to kill one employee and wound five others, some very seriously. The Jewish community, including a few, but not all the victims, breathed a sigh of relief at the verdict (since his first trial ended in a mistrial). But I didn’t. Here’s why:

The American justice system has an entirely loopy definition of mental illness and mental competency to stand trial. The defense in this case pleaded insanity. The prosecution conceded he was mentally ill. Yet the jury still found him sane. Go figure:

The prosecution throughout the trial had acknowledged Haq had suffered from mental illness. Symptoms appeared mostly in the form of paranoia and paranoid delusions, Raz said…

“No one ever asserted that paranoia had anything to do with his attack on the Jewish Federation,” Raz said.

Juror John Bennett said the defense was simply unable to convince he and his fellow jurors of Haq’s insanity at the time of the shooting.

“We were waiting with an open mind – waiting for someone to tell us that he was not sane. But there was just never anything to convince us,” he said.

So if you can follow that: he’s mentally ill, paranoid and delusional. In fact, during the shootings he shouts out nasty comments about Jews hurting Muslims and this is the reason for his actions. But somehow the paranoid, delusional beliefs that motivate his crime do not constitute insanity. This is a guy who’s under doctor’s care and taking anti-psychotic medication who goes postal, yet nothing convinced the jury of his being totally loopy.

And what convinced the jury in particular of his sanity? Jailhouse phone conversations with the killer’s mother in which she tells him his illness made him commit the crime. He firmly rejects her view and declares his sanity. That’s it. He says he’s sane in a convincing manner and that clinches it. Anyone out there who has a family member or friend who’s battled mental illness can tell you that there are almost no victims of this sickness who readily acknowledge they have it. In fact, I’ve had almost the same exact conversation with someone close to me that Haq’s mother had with him. That person swore up and down that there was nothing wrong with him. That’s part of the illness–to deny it. It’s the same with addiction. Who in their right, or even wrong mind would publicly concede that there’s something terribly wrong with them? Furthermore, many mentally ill individuals can put on a very convincing show proving they are sane. No doubt Haq was doing precisely this when he spoke to his mother.

Telling a jury to believe a mentally ill man when he says he is not mentally ill is, well, crazy.

And so Naveed Haq will go into the state prison system and vegetate there for the rest of his life (no possibility of parole) because a Seattle jury couldn’t concede that a mentally ill individual who was guilty of a horrible crime should be treated as if he were mentally ill (the defense advocated that Haq be committed to a state mental hospital rather than prison).

Besides the tragedy of the murder and shooting victims whose lives were torn asunder and Naveed Haq, who will never see freedom again, there is the tragedy of Haq’s mother, who inadvertently provided evidence against her son that clinched the guilty verdict. In attempting to get him to see the horror of what he had done, she sealed his fate. Imagine being a parent and having the live with that guilt.

As for the Islam-haters out there who are circulating this verdict with glee because you believe it proves there is a Muslim hate machine, think again. All this verdict proves is that one terribly ill individual fell victim to his personal demons and acted out in a horribly violent fashion. The motivation for his acting out happened to be hatred of Israeli violence against Palestinians. But he was no more capable of understanding the full implications of what he was doing than any seriously-ill paranoid schizophrenic is.

Cheryl Stumbo, one of the victims in the shooting, wrote the following at my blog shortly after the shooting. Anyone who wishes to indict Islam for this act should remember this:

…The man who shot me and five of my colleagues…was raised Muslim, yes, but by peace-loving parents, from all accounts. His problem was long-term, very serious mental illness. Let’s not attribute blame to ethnicity/religion when there are documentable medical explanations. Rationality and reason should prevail…

I don’t think his religion…had anything to do with his decision to break into, assault and kill, but I do think it helped his agitated mind select a target for his frustration.

Tags: anti-semitism, first degree murder, jew-hatred, mental illness, naveed-haq, pam waechter killed, paranoid schizophrenia
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Politics & Society, Seattle | 10 Comments »

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Haq Again

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

The Seattle district attorney tried Naveed Haq, accused Seattle federation attacker once and the trial ended in a mistrial. Despite the fact that Haq has a long history of mental illness along with mental health professionals who testified in the first trial to the fact that his illness destroyed his ability to apprehend reality, the county prosecutor is trying again. I fear that he is doing so because this has become a political, as much as a legal trial. He doesn’t want to be perceived by the local Jewish community as being soft of Muslim extremism (even though Haq was so disturbed that he at one time renounced his religion and became a Christian). The organized community leadership is leading the charge, in my opinion, in calling for judgment against Haq. They were not satisfied with the mistrial and they’ve pressured the King County prosecutor for a second attempt.

The prosecutor betrays the willful confusion of its case:

Senior deputy prosecutor Don Raz argued that although Haq clearly suffers from mental illness, his actions cannot be attributed to his disorder. Rather, the shootings were a deliberate choice made out of anger, not delusion.

“Naveed Haq’s mental illness did not cause him to attack the Jewish Federation,” Raz said. “His anger did.”

Anyone with even a limited understanding of mental illness understands that irrational rage or anger is one of the most common symptoms of mental illness especially mental illness that manifests itself in violent acts. Unless you want to argue that Haq is a Muslim extremist programmed to kill Jews, it is clear his mental illness led him to the attack.

If you polled most of the victims of this tragedy or the individual members of our community I have little doubt that most would say: plea bargain this out and get him locked away in a mental health facility and stop treating him like he’s Al Qaeda. Haq should be treated as any mentally disturbed violent individual would be. He should be monitored closely and incarcerated as a dangerous person. But this retrial is a betrayal of our understanding of mental illness and doesn’t characterize the liberal attitude prevalent in our community on such issues..

Tags: king country prosecutor, mental illness, naveed-haq, seattle federation shooting, second trial
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Politics & Society, Seattle | 12 Comments »

Weekend of Twinning: Mosques and Synagogues Bond

Monday, November 17th, 2008

This coming weekend (November 21-23), forty communities (see list) throughout the U.S. will feature a local mosque and synagogue joining together to host a joint program on the subject of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. The goal of this national project sponsored by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding is to combat ethnic tension between Muslims and Jews. The event will also seek common ground between the two religious traditions so that members of two faiths can study their shared sacred texts and discover their common humanity.

While the heaviest conflict between Jews and Muslims plays out in the Middle East, that does not mean that here at home all is sweetness and light. There are numerous instances of rather acrid misunderstandings and even campaigns of hatred by Jews against Muslims and vice versa.

As an example, in this blog, I have been chronicling the anti-Muslim documentary films Obsession and Third Jihad produced by the Aish HaTorah offshoot Clarion Fund. The latter deliberately marketed the films during the election campaign in a failed effort to drive a wedge between Barack Obama and the Jewish vote. The Republican Jewish Coalition, in attacking Barack Obama, attempted to capitalize on rumors deliberately circulated by Daniel Pipes and others to cast suspicion on him by claiming he was Muslim.

In New York, under the tutelage of Jewish extremists Pipes and David Yerushalmi, a local Jewish group organized to force a Muslim-American woman, Debbie Almontaser, out of her job as principal of the first Muslim public charter school in New York and the U.S.

Prior to that a group of Jewish Barnard College alumni lobbied hard against Nadia Abu El Haj’s attempt to gain academic tenure. In all the above cases, perfectly reasonable, rational Muslims were targeted as Islamist extremists by frightened, ignorant Jews who believed the worst of them and their motives.

Conversely, here in Seattle, a Muslim-American lashed out against local Jews in a shooting at the Jewish Federation that left one staff member dead and several seriously injured. I am sure if I knew the Muslim community as well as I know the Jewish community, I could list other instances of Muslim hatred of Jews. Because our own communities here in the U.S. are a microcosm of the conflict playing out in the Middle East, it is necessary that we work hard to overcome our differences here at home as well.

The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding is the brainchild of Orthodox Rabbi Marc Schneier. It is his vehicle for international dialogue among Jews, Christians and Muslims. In his capacity as world Jewry’s foremost proponent of interfaith dialogue, he has met the Pope and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Several months ago, Walter Ruby, the national director of the Twinning project and a freelance Jewish journalist whose work I greatly respect, asked me whether any synagogues in Seattle might be interested. This blog often deals with Muslim-Jewish relations including what drives us apart and what unites us. I wrote extensively about the Haq shooting. Like both communities during that tragedy, I was looking for common ground rather than focussing on the hate that might divide us, and which felled the mentally ill Haq.

For that reason, I was delighted when Walter contacted me. Truthfully, I had few friends or contacts in the local Muslim community. But I did approach Rabbi Jill Borodin, at Congregation Beth Shalom, where I belong. She was enthusiastic about trying to put together a Seattle twinning. We started by contacting the Idriss mosque in Northgate since it was closest to us geographically. Attempts to reach them were unsuccessful.

For a short time, a Muslim community leader offered to speak to our synagogue, though he was not an imam nor did he represent a mosque. I had never met, nor heard of the leader before, but I was grateful for his offer which we accepted until a mosque did finally come forward.

Earlier, I had found via a web search the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS), a mosque in Redmond. After several attempts, I finally reached their president, Hyder Ali, who consulted with his board and imam and received approval to go forward. All this took weeks. By the time Hyder came back with a positive answer, it was just after the High Holidays in October, and Rabbi Borodin didn’t feel we had enough time to pull off a successful, well-coordinated event for this coming weekend.

Walter persuaded her to persevere and she agreed to allow me to go forward with meetings with MAPS members to plan the event. I had a delightful lunch with two of them and found that I shared more in common with them in our respective approaches to our own traditions than I did with some Jews. They too grappled with aspects of traditional belief that troubled them. They too were eager to overcome suspicion of the other to make common cause in fighting bigotry in our society.

During this period last month, the rabbi was away on a ten day trip. It was then synagogue members began to ask questions about the event. A few were concerned when they heard that the local Muslim community leader I mentioned above would be the one speaking at our shul (even though by then we had moved on to working with MAPS as our partner). This leader was considered controversial by more conservative members of the Jewish community. Enough of a brouhaha had been stirred up, that when Rabbi Borodin returned from her vacation she decided that more prep work and education needed to be done within the synagogue.

That’s why the Seattle Twinning program will not happen this weekend. Instead, it’s planned for a later date possibly in December. This gives congregants a chance to ask any questions they might have about the program and our Muslim partners; and it gives the rabbi an opportunity to both answer the questions and explain the rationale for hosting the program. It also gives the Muslim-Jewish partners a chance to meet and fine-tune the program they’re planning.

While it’s true that suspicion and fear characterized the response of some members of my shul, I’m proud that this was overcome by a rabbi and synagogue leadership convinced that this project was the right thing to do. All of us are subject to the prejudices by our co-religionists. We are a product and microcosm of such attitudes. But we are not prisoners of them. We are able to liberate ourselves from them and reach across boundaries and barriers established that prevent such dialogue between Jews and Muslims.

If your Jewish community is hosting a Twinning program this weekend mazel tov to you for the vision and courage you have shown. If you’re not and would like to, ask your rabbi or imam to contact the Foundation in order to participate in future programs.

Tags: congregation beth shalom seattle, foundation for ethnic understanding, muslim association of puget sound, muslim jewish relations, naveed-haq, seattle interfaith dialogue, twinning weekend mosques synagogues
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Seattle | 25 Comments »

Seattle Federation Shooting: One Year Later

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

Last Friday marked the first anniversary of the most traumatic day in the history of Seattle’s Jewish community. It was the day that a deranged Naveed Haq barged into the Jewish federation’s downtown offices, proclaimed his anger at Israel for its treatment of Arabs, and began shooting everything in sight. At the end of his rampage Pam Waechter, the campaign director was dead and five other female employees were wounded. The hatred and insanity of this massacre are garden variety as far as the world is concerned–this happens every day. But what isn’t garden variety is this community’s response, including the victims and the family of the perpetrator.

Seattle is a city that prides itself on its openness and tolerance and it proved it in this case. On the day of Pam Waechter’s funeral an Arab-American representative of Haq’s family hand delivered a letter from Haq’s parents expressing profound sorrow and regret to the Jewish community. The victims, in turn, did not shout for vengeance or the death penalty. In fact, several victims families said explicitly and publicly that they did not the DA to file a death penalty charge.

Layla Bush, most seriously injured federation shooting victim (Karen Ducey/Seattle PI)

Layla Bush, most seriously injured federation victim (Karen Ducey/Seattle PI)Layla Bush, most seriously injured federation victim (Karen Ducey/Seattle PI)The most severely injured victim was Layla Bush with bullet wounds to her abdomen and shoulders. One bullet barely missed tearing into her heart. She walks with a cane, cannot stand for more than an hour and has nine therapy appointments each week. Yet these are her feelings now:

“I just don’t want people to forget how much damage hate can do…Nothing positive comes from hatred.” Bush said executing Haq would be “too easy for him.” She reiterated that view Thursday, saying she favored life imprisonment.

In the aftermath of the shooting, “what made me mad is not him, but that someone with a mental history like that can get guns…” Growing up in rural Florida, she completed gun-safety classes and shot beer bottles off fence posts. She once owned a 9 mm Beretta. “I feel that handguns are made for killing people,” she said. “They’re not made for hunting.”

Think what an extraordinary attitude it takes to make the following statement about her volunteer work at Harborview Medical Center:

We answer questions and talk with patients who have just been recently injured,” she said. “It feels good for me to just give back. I feel like I’ve taken so much.”

Norm Maleng, the recently deceased Republican DA did not file a first degree murder charge. He reviewed ten years of Haq’s mental health records and determined that a lesser murder charge was more appropriate.

While one might expect the victims of such a trauma to refuse to return to their jobs almost all have (though several cannot work full time due to their injuries). The federation in turn has raised $1.3 million to entirely redesign the interior of its former offices so that the thoughts of victims or any other community member will not linger on that tragic day and space.

It seems to me that there are many places in the world where hate rages which could learn from Seattle’s example. It is true that shootings of this nature are extremely rare here so one might argue that we have the luxury of being able to respond to such tragedy differently. But are we really that different? I don’t know. It seems to me that a response to murderous hatred that offers more of the same is the easy way out. A response to hate that offers sober reflection and emotional engagement is much harder.

Tags: layla-bush, naveed-haq, norm-maleng, pam-waechter, seattle-jewish-federation-shooting, terrorism, violent-mentally-ill
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Politics & Society, Seattle | 1 Comment »

Seattle Federation Attack: Pam Waechter Funeral Today

Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

Mourners at funeral service for Pam Waechter (Ellen M. Banner/Seattle Times)

Today, 1,300 mourners gathered at Temple B’nai Torah for the funeral of Pam Waechter. She was the lone person killed in the shooting spree at the Jewish Federation here in Seattle. Here is how she was eulogized:

Pam Waechter acknowledged the possibility of dying for her adopted faith well before she was shot to death Friday as she worked to further the local Jewish community.

When she traveled to Israel, the fundraiser for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle left notes to her daughter and son in the event that she did not return alive.

“You have to ask yourself: If Pam could have known, because of all the things she did and was, that she’d be taken violently and tragically … would she have continued to do and to be the kind of person and the kind of Jew she was?” Rabbi James Mirel of Temple B’nai Torah asked during her funeral Monday.

“She would not have changed one thing about the way she lived her life… ,” he said. “Pam lived the way she died — without regrets and without hesitation.”

The Seattle Times also notes this important act of conciliation in its coverage:

One letter sent to Waechter’s family was from the family of 30-year-old Naveed Afzal Haq, facing aggravated-murder and attempted-murder charges in the shooting attack at the Jewish Federation. His family expressed condolences to the Waechter family and the federation.

A memorial fund is being established by the Jewish Federation to support the victims and their families. I will post a link as soon as I have one.

The Seattle PI reveals today that Naveed Haq, the shooter, is a more complicated individual than previously thought. While news reports have quoted him as saying to Federation staff that he was a Muslim angry at Israel, he actually had been quite estranged from his religion because he felt it disrespected women. In fact, he’d been baptized as a Christian:

Haq, 30, told a ministry leader that he saw too much anger in Islam and wanted to find a new beginning in Christianity. He converted to Christianity, but, as with many other endeavors in his life, drifted away from the faith.

Acquaintances said he never seemed to be the fanatic religious extremist he played out on Friday. Instead some think his anger was really the result of problems in his personal and professional life.

“Naveed had the profile of the guy who just couldn’t get things together,” said Erik Neilsen, a Richland resident who let Haq live with him for three months in 2004. Neilsen said he thinks several problems compounded for Haq, and he just exploded.

“I wish I could have done something about it. I look back in retrospect and say ‘Is there anything I could have done?’ ”

Last winter, Haq began attending a weekly men’s group meeting at the home of a men’s ministry leader with the Word of Faith Center, a non-denominational, evangelical church in Kennewick.

The group’s leader, Albert Montelongo, said Haq started studying the Bible. In December, he was baptized by Montelongo. The ceremony brought tears to Haq’s eyes, Montelongo said.

He said Haq appeared to accept his new faith, though he knew that he would be offending his own family and its deeply rooted culture. His father, Mian Haq, was among the founders of the Islamic Center of the Tri-Cities in Richland, a place of worship for about 300 Muslims.

Montelongo said Haq seemed passionate and often boasted about his education. But he seemed depressed by the tension that had grown between him and his family. And Montelongo said Haq talked about suffering from bipolar disorder, but that he seemed to improve in how he coped with anger.

A few months after he was baptized, Haq stopped attending the men’s group meetings. Montelongo last heard from Haq in a message that said he was going to Seattle to find a job. He said he tried to call Haq several times but never reached him.

If it hadn’t ended so horribly, one could almost see in Haq’s spiritual quest a yearning for release from the torment of his mental illness. While one must acknowledge this as a hate crime, far more significant to me is his mental illness as a motivating factor. This was a man who could just as easily have taken his anger out of the telemarketing company boss who fired him. While I hope for justice, I also hope the prosecution will not pursue this case in the same way it might pursue a more straightforward hate crime case. This is a man who also deserves the mercy of the court for his torment. For example, I think pursuing the death penalty in this case would be unwarranted given his mental history. I’m no prosecutor–this is just the opinion of someone who understands a thing or two about mental afflictions.

The PI story also confirms Haq’s anti-Semitic beliefs:

A neighbor of Haq’s parents told the Tri-City Herald that Haq expressed anger at Jews, having convinced himself that the Jewish community controls the nation’s media and economic system. The neighbor, Caleb Hales, also said Haq expressed an interest in the Mormon faith.

Haq’s crimes will be prosecuted by the State of Washington though the federal government could pursue its own charges based on federal hate crimes legislation:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Lang said Monday federal prosecutors have not ruled out federal charges, as they monitor the state’s investigation and wait for the FBI to complete a probe of its own.

Lang and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake, who handles civil-rights and hate-crime prosecutions for the office, said proving a hate crime under federal law might be more difficult than it would seem, regardless of Haq’s reported statements.

“Hate by itself is not enough,” Miyake said. “It’s sort of hate-’plus.’ ”

The “plus,” Miyake explained, requires the government to prove that more than race, religious preference or national origin was a factor in the crime. “You also have to be able to show that the individual was interfering with a federally protected right,” such as voting, using interstate commerce or attempting to use a public facility.

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That’s because the law harkens to the civil-rights struggle of the early 1960s, when blacks were assaulted for attempting to eat at segregated lunch counters or to register to vote.

Still, there may be a section of the statute under which Haq could be prosecuted in federal court, Miyake and Lang said. For example, one of the federally protected rights cited by the law is “applying for or enjoying employment.”

“The mere fact that they were in the act of working may be enough,” Lang said.

It seems almost self-evident to me that George Bush and Alberto Gonzales would like to add this case to the war on terror prosecution portfolio. But I hope they have better sense than that and decline the opportunity. This is a man who deserves prosecution, but not to be held out as a poster boy for Muslim terrorism.

Tags: federal-hate-crime, naveed-haq, pam-waechter, seattle-jewish-federation-attack, seattle-pi, seattle-times, violence-by-mentally-ill
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Seattle | 2 Comments »

Seattle Jewish Federation Shooting: Naming the Dead

Saturday, July 29th, 2006

It is important when hatred strikes, as it did yesterday here in Seattle, to invoke the dead, to celebrate them as human beings, to appreciate what they brought to life so that he may feel all the more what has been lost. And we also must note the killer because he is a human being too, though a destructive and malevolent one. Just as there is tragedy on both sides of the Israeli-Arab conflict, so there is a double tragedy in Seattle.

The Seattle Times profiles both the dead and the killer today.

Pam Waechter seattle jewish federation shooting victim

Pam Waechter, Seattle Jewish Federation employee murdered (photo: Seattle Jewish Federation)

Pam Waechter, 58, was born in Minnesota and raised Lutheran. Then she met Bill Waechter and when they married she converted to Judaism. It is terribly ironic that a woman who elects to convert to Judaism in order to share the joy and fate of the Jewish people should pay the ultimate price for that commitment. They came to Seattle in 1979 where they raised two children and then divorced.

She was director of the Federation’s annual campaign. [Note: I too have been a fundraiser for two Jewish federations though I never worked at the Seattle Federation] Before that she’d worked at Jewish Family Service.

The Times provides this touching personal background about Waechter:

In both her paid and volunteer work, she was known as a mediator, always bringing a calm, balanced approach to problems.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Pam stepped in to protect other people,” said Marshall Brumer, a past president of Temple B’nai Torah. “That’s the kind of person she was.”

At the Bellevue synagogue this morning, Rabbi James Mirel called Waechter “the most positive, optimistic person you ever met.” From the pulpit, he told the congregation, “Pam would have said, ‘You have to go on.’”

Chuck Hall, 56, of Minneapolis, explained that “no” was the one word his sister wouldn’t say. He described her as a friend to people of all ages, from 20 to 80.

She also was one of his closest friends. They talked about dating after divorce. They talked about what would happen to their children, when they died. Just last week, Hall brought up the conflict in the Middle East, asking the question: When is it ever going to end?

His sister had no answer. She only sighed.

Waechter believed in the basic goodness of people. So if the scene on Friday had unfolded elsewhere, her brother said, she would have called him right away to say: Can you imagine somebody would do that?

She would not have mentioned first the fact that the shooter was Muslim, Hall said. She was not that kind of woman.

Given family history, he said, Waechter was relieved to make it this far in life. Their mother died at age 56, of breast cancer. Waechter always saw that age as a milestone she needed to make it past.

Waechter’s funeral will be 1 p.m. Monday at Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St., Bellevue, according to the synagogue. The service will be open to the public.

Naveed Haq, Seattle Jewish Federation gunman (photo: 1994 Richland high school yearbook)

Naveed Haq, 30, was raised in Pasco, WA in a second-generation Pakistani-American family. The Times provides some information about his family background:

Haq’s parents were shaken by the news that their son was in custody for the shootings, said Haq’s Kennewick defense attorney, Larry Stephenson.

“I talked to his father, and his mother is crying, and they don’t know what is going on,” Stephenson said. “They are very, very shook up. They haven’t been able to reach their son.”

Haq had been charged with misdemeanor lewd conduct in Benton County for allegedly exposing himself in a public place in Kennewick, Stephenson said. He declined to elaborate. The charge is punishable by up to a year in jail.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial in Benton County District Court on Thursday, but was postponed.

Stephenson said he does not believe Haq is married or has children. Stephenson said he did not believe Haq had a job.

Haq went to college, Stephenson said, but he declined to say where.

Asked if Haq had any mental-health issues, Stephenson said he couldn’t comment. “I’m really not OK to discuss that,” he said.

Haq’s father, Mian A. Haq, was a founding member of the Islamic Centre of Tri-Cities in Richland, said center member Youseff Shehadeh. He described the younger Haq as a loner who attended holidays at the center but was barely involved in recent years.

Naveed Haq’s parents moved into a new suburb in Pasco less than three years ago after living in nearby Richland for more than a decade, said Maureen Hales, a neighbor.

Mian Haq was involved in an Islamic center in Richland, but he did not discuss his religion with his neighbors, said Hales.

She said she had not seen Naveed Haq, but found his parents and his younger brother, Hasan, to be “quite enjoyable.” The two families exchanged food, and Maureen Hales said she watches the Haqs’ house when they’re away.

Until two weeks ago, he’d lived in Everett, WA., a small city about 30 miles north of Seattle:

Naveed Haq lived in an apartment building at 2924 Nassau St. in Everett until about two weeks ago, when he abruptly left, said tenant Chris Richey. The landlady told Richey that Haq was heading to Pakistan. Richie often talked with Haq about guns and politics, though little stuck out. Richey said Haq didn’t like President Bush.

Haq told Richey he owned a .45-caliber handgun, which he kept locked up in safety deposit box.

The law-enforcement source said Haq had a license to carry a concealed weapon.

“There was something strange about him,” Richey said. “There was something about him I didn’t like.”

A law enforcement source told the Times that he had a history of mental illness. One wonders how a man with a history of mental illness can get a license to carry a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Yet another example of rampant gun violence and the price society pays for being hijacked by the NRA. He also has a charge of lewd conduct pending against him:

Haq had been charged with misdemeanor lewd conduct in Benton County for allegedly exposing himself in a public place in Kennewick, Stephenson said.

You’ll note that the Lebanon invasion began two weeks ago just as Haq abandoned his Everett home. One wonders whether the two events might be connected. Yesterday, he made his way to the Jewish Federation headquarters with a gun. He forced his way into the building and, after telling employees he was a Muslim who was angry with Israel he began shooting. Pam Waechter, a 58 year old fundraiser for the Federation was killed and five other women were injured, three critically.

Here is what is known of his motivation for the crime:

“He said he hates Israel,” said the source, who is part of the Seattle Joint Terrorism Task Force, which was called in to help investigate the shootings.

…He told the police that it was a hostage situation and he wanted us to get our weapons out of Israel,” said one woman who heard the account from the wounded co-worker.

The Times lists this information about the wounded survivors:

One of the victims was identified by family members as 23-year-old Layla Bush. “We just heard she’s alive a minute or two ago,” said her mother, Kathryn Bush, from her home in Panama City, Fla. The other wounded victims have been identified as Carol Goldman, Dayna Klein, Christina Rexroad and Cheryl Stumbo.

Thankfully, Muslim leaders in Seattle and nationally have condemned the violence.

UPDATE

Another Seattle Times article adds this important information confirming his mental illness and his history of hatred of Jews:

Haq often talked about guns, politics and his dislike of President Bush, Richey said. Haq told Richey he owned a .45-caliber handgun, which he kept locked in a safe-deposit box.

A friend of Haq’s in Everett, who spoke on condition he not be named, said Friday night that Haq was on medication for bipolar disorder and was frustrated by his inability to find a job or a girlfriend. Haq displayed a streak of anti-Semitism, sometimes making offhand comments about Jews.

“He was a loner,” the friend said. “I was probably one of his only friends.”

Although Haq made a point of announcing his Muslim faith before opening fire Friday, he had told the friend he was not a practicing Muslim because he was turned off by the religion’s strict gender divisions.

The article also notes that the feds have apparently decided to invoke a federal hate crime which would remove it from Seattle or state jurisdiction:

A man who answered the door at the Haq family’s house Friday night said the house was a federal crime scene.

This would also feed into the Bush war on terror agenda allowing the Republicans to show how tough they are on domestic terrorism in an election year. Yes, it’s playing politics with the dead time back in D.C.

Tags: anti-semitism, hatred-of-israel, lebanon-invasion, naveed-haq, pamela-waechter-murdered, seattle-jewish-federation-shooting
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Seattle | 17 Comments »