Community Marks Slaying, Attack On Jewish Center

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: CBS

Survivors of the Granada Hills Jewish community center attack, as well as the family of a slain letter carrier, gathered Monday to remember the 10th anniversary of the violence.

The attack on North Valley Jewish Community Center and the slaying of U.S. postal worker Joseph Ileto by Buford O. Furrow Jr., a white supremacist, took place on August 10, 1999.

Furrow was equipped with a 9 mm Israeli-designed Uzi submachine gun and a Glock semiautomatic pistol when he arrived at the center and sprayed 70 rounds across the lobby.

Receptionist Isabelle Shalometh, camp counselor Mindy Finkelstein, and day campers James Sidell, Joshua Stepakoff and Benjamin Kadish were wounded in the attack.

Read more: http://cbs2.com/tv/buford.furrow.joseph.2.1121185.html

[virginia mountainman]

1. It was not a submachine gun..

It was a semi automatic..

BIG TIME DIFFERENCE factually, and legally.

[villager]

2. thanks for your usual empathy for the *victims* Mountainman -- I knew some kids that almost got shot

there --

luckily they escaped.

Some of their friends did not, and I remember the vigil(s) for the most grievously wounded of the children.

And of course, there was the Postman murdered later that afternoon, for being both a "Fed," and "different."

That day is vividly etched in my mind.

But you know, just as long as we get the gun nomenclature down -- or better, as long as we can argue about that, we don't have to face any of the unpleasant facts about what guns do.

To, you know, flesh.

Or children.

[noiretextatique]

3. recommend eom

[LeftishBrit]

6. The exact type of gun isn't the most important part of the story

Your post reminds me of Ogden Nash's poem about the professor who is informed that his wife has been eaten by an alligator, and his first response is 'You mean a crocodile!'

[villager]

4. Unbelievable! Some asshole "un-rec'd" this!

Why!?

[villager]

8. and did it again...! Quite telling about what DU's become...

n/t

[villager]

5. Meanwhile, a good 10-year reflection here: "Two of Our Children Have Been Shot"

"Two Of Our Children Have Been Shot..."

"We are a people defined by memory -- not to dwell in the past, but as a foundation for the future. We look back not to mourn, but to see how far we have come, and how far we need to go."

Friday evening at Temple Ahavat Shalom, Rabbi Barry Lutz began Shabbat service with this meditation on the importance of memory as the congregation gathered on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the shootings at North Valley Jewish Community Center "to share the joys and comforts of coming together as a community."

There will be larger commemorative events on Monday -- the actual anniversary of the event -- with city officials, press coverage, and TV cameras, but Friday night's Shabbat service in Northridge felt intimate -- more like a gathering of extended family than a civic event.

In attendance were Mindy Finkelstein and Josh Stepakoff, two survivors of Buford Furrow's August 10, 1999 rampage. Furrow shot a total of six people that day, creating pain and outrage across the country, but here at Ahavat Shalom, the anguish was especially acute, because Josh and Mindy were members.

Recalled Ron Major, "I remember ten years ago, this congregation was packed, and Rabbi Brown stood up and said, 'Two of our children have been shot.' It was really emotional, because we look at all of the children of this congregation as our children."

Josh Stepakoff, five years old when he was shot and now a junior at Granada Hills High School, said, "When I was asked to speak here, I was told I was supposed to make it happy, upbeat, positive. They want to hear that I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I'm doing good. So, I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I'm doing good.

"In very single interview we give, we get the same question: 'after the shooting, were you scared to say you were Jewish?' And I think I speak for all of us when I say that after the shooting, we were all drawn *more* to Judaism...."

<snip>

http://www.gigagranadahills.com/2009/08/two-of-our-children-have-been-shot.html

[LeftishBrit]

7. A terribly sad story.