On a Sunday afternoon, the day before the start of Passover in 2014, Reat Griffin Underwood, a 14-year-old Caucasian male, arrived with his grandfather at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas. Reat, a talented singer, was there to audition for a singing competition. As they were in the parking lot, a 73-year-old man named Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. opened fire, tragically taking the lives of both Reat and his grandfather, William Lewis Corporon.
Miller, a man with deep-seated antisemitic beliefs and a history with the Ku Klux Klan, had come to the location with the intent to kill Jewish people. Unbeknownst to him, his victims that day were not Jewish.
After the initial attack, the shooter drove to the nearby Village Shalom, a Jewish retirement community, where he killed a third person. His violent spree was brought to an end when he was arrested by police outside a nearby elementary school. As he was being taken into custody, witnesses reported that he made antisemitic remarks, including yelling "Heil Hitler". The attacks, driven by hate and bigotry, sent shockwaves through the local community and the nation, casting a dark shadow over the religious holiday.
Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., also known as Frazier Glenn Cross, was charged with capital murder and other crimes related to the shootings. During his trial, he chose to represent himself and used the courtroom as a platform to express his hateful ideology, showing no remorse for his actions. He was found guilty on all charges and, in November 2015, was sentenced to death. Miller died in prison of natural causes in May 2021, while he was still on death row. The families of the victims, though devastated by their loss, expressed that his death did not bring them joy or sadness, but a release from the ongoing legal process. They emphasized that while he had taken their loved ones, he had not stolen their capacity for love, forgiveness, and dignity.
