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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: August 22, 2006 |
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Five families with children who were shot or traumatized in a 1999 shooting at a California Jewish center have filed a $15 million claim against Washington state, where the shooter had been on parole.
The claim, potentially the precursor for a lawsuit, was filed Friday against the state Department of Corrections, which was responsible for supervising Buford O. Furrow Jr., an avowed white supremacist with a history of mental illness.
Furrow, now 44 and serving a life sentence, had been out of prison for three months at the time of the shooting spree at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, California.
The claim says the state agency should have monitored Furrow to prevent him from accumulating the weapons, should have given more attention to court records of his close ties to hate groups, and failed to obtain his psychiatric records and assess his mental health.
"Not only were there red flags, they were in their own files," said Michael E. Withey, a lawyer for the families. "It's like being told that Washington state allows its community corrections officers to be bamboozled by neo-Nazi, gun-toting nuts."
An agency spokeswoman would not comment, saying officials had not yet reviewed the claim. The state has 60 days to respond before plaintiffs can file the case as a lawsuit. |
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