Accused Killer of 3 Is Linked to Racist Writing
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
W ILKINSBURG, Pa., March 2 -- A black man accused of killing three
people and wounding two in a shooting rampage had anti-white
writings in his apartment and singled out whites during the attack,
reassuring a black woman in his path, "Not you, sister," the
authorities and witnesses said today.
A third victim of the rampage died tonight; two others remain in
critical condition.
"The general tenor was that he wasn't shooting anybody but whites,"
Lt. John Brennan said today of the man, Ronald Taylor.
Tonight, the police charged Mr. Taylor with ethnic intimidation,
Pennsylvania's term for a hate crime, accusing him of setting fire
to his apartment and shooting the men with malicious intent "toward
white males," court documents said. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation also said it had initiated a civil rights
investigation.
District Justice Alberta Thompson asked Mr. Taylor if he had any
history of mental illness. He replied yes. No details were
available.
Mr. Taylor was initially charged with two counts of criminal
homicide, an umbrella charge covering murder and manslaughter in
Pennsylvania. The police took him before Judge Thompson tonight and
charged him with the hate crime, five counts of aggravated assault,
one count of arson, a firearms violation and one count of causing a
catastrophe. He is being held without bail on the homicide charges.
Mr. Taylor, a 39-year-old jobless man, is accused of shooting a
maintenance worker at his apartment building and four other people
at two fast-food restaurants on Wednesday in working-class
Wilkinsburg, a town of 22,000 six miles east of Pittsburgh. All
five victims were white men.
Mr. Brennan said that when police searched Mr. Taylor's home on
Wednesday night, they found anti-white writings.
Joyce Ambrose, who was briefly held hostage by Mr. Taylor said he
told another black woman, "Not you, sister," as he threatened to
shoot others.
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