On a tragic spring afternoon, a wave of violence swept through the suburbs of Pittsburgh, leaving a trail of devastation and claiming the life of Garry Dewane Lee, a 22-year-old African American man. On April 28, 2000, Lee was at the C.S. Kim Karate School in Beaver County when he was fatally shot. His death was not an isolated incident but the final act in a racially motivated rampage that instilled fear and sorrow throughout the community.
The perpetrator of this heinous crime was
Richard Scott Baumhammers, a 34-year-old immigration lawyer. Over the course of about two hours, Baumhammers targeted and attacked individuals of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. His violent spree began at the home of his Jewish neighbor, whom he shot and killed before setting her house on fire. He then proceeded to an Indian grocery store where he killed one man and critically injured another. Two men of Asian descent were his next victims, shot and killed at a Chinese restaurant. Garry Dewane Lee was the fifth and final person murdered during Baumhammers's calculated assault. Baumhammers deliberately spared the life of a white individual who was with Lee at the time of the shooting.
Law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions pursued Baumhammers as he moved from one location to the next. He was apprehended in Ambridge shortly after the shooting at the karate school. Inside his vehicle, authorities discovered the weapon used in the killings, spent shell casings, and materials for making Molotov cocktails.
In the aftermath of the horrific events, the investigation quickly pointed to ethnic intimidation as the motive. Baumhammers, a white man, had a history of mental health issues and had developed a deep-seated hatred for minorities and immigrants. He was charged with multiple counts of homicide, attempted homicide, and ethnic intimidation. Following a trial in 2001, where his defense argued insanity, Richard Scott Baumhammers was found guilty of all five murders. He was subsequently sentenced to death for his crimes and remains in prison. The families of the victims, including the estate of Garry Dewane Lee, later filed wrongful death lawsuits against Baumhammers and his parents.
