In the quiet suburb of Mt. Lebanon, just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 63-year-old Anita 'Nicki' Gordon, a Caucasian woman, was known for her warmth and her involvement in her religious community. A friend to many, she had lived next door to the Baumhammers family for over three decades, watching their son Richard grow up. On the afternoon of April 28, 2000, this long-standing neighborly relationship turned unimaginably tragic.
Richard Baumhammers, then 34, walked over to Nicki's home and fatally shot her before setting the house on fire. This act of violence was not a random occurrence but the first in a string of racially and religiously motivated attacks that would terrorize the Pittsburgh area over the next two hours.
After murdering Nicki Gordon, Baumhammers, an unemployed immigration attorney, embarked on a hate-fueled rampage. He drove to the Beth El Congregation synagogue, where Nicki was a member, and fired shots into the building, defacing it with spray-painted swastikas and the word 'Jew'. His path of terror continued as he targeted individuals of various ethnic and racial backgrounds. At an Indian grocery store, he killed 31-year-old Anil Thakur and left another man, Sandip Patel, paralyzed; Patel would later succumb to his injuries in 2007. Baumhammers then drove to a Chinese restaurant and murdered two employees, 34-year-old Ji-ye Sun and 27-year-old Thao 'Tony' Pham. The final fatal stop on his deadly journey was a karate school, where he killed 22-year-old Garry Lee, an African American man.
Richard Baumhammers' violent spree came to an end when he was apprehended by police in Ambridge. The evidence against him was overwhelming. In May 2001, a jury found him guilty on nineteen charges, which included five counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and ethnic intimidation. During his trial, his defense argued that he suffered from a delusional disorder and other mental health issues. However, the prosecution successfully contended that his actions were premeditated and driven by a white supremacist ideology. The jury sentenced him to death.
Following his conviction, Baumhammers has remained on death row in Pennsylvania. Over the years, he has filed numerous appeals, which have been consistently denied, with courts upholding his conviction and death sentence. However, a statewide moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania has so far prevented his sentence from being carried out. The memory of his violent rampage, which began with the senseless murder of his neighbor, Nicki Gordon, continues to serve as a stark reminder of the devastating impact of hate-fueled violence.
