Suspect Charged in Hate Crimes, Murders of 4

A white man was charged with murder and hate crimes on Monday in the shooting deaths of a Jewish woman, an Indian man and two Asian men in a rampage that targeted minorities.

Richard Scott Baumhammers, who was arraigned Friday night in the killing of a black man at a karate studio, pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Baumhammers’ lawyer, William Difenderfer, said that he’ll try to mount an insanity defense and seek to have Baumhammers moved to a mental hospital from jail.

Meanwhile, about 450 friends and neighbors attended the funeral of one of the shooting victims, 63-year-old Anita “Nicki” Gordon, who lived next door to Baumhammers’ parents in the affluent Pittsburgh suburb of Mount Lebanon.

“There was no place in her for hate, there was no place for evil,” Rabbi Stephen Steindel said at the funeral. “She opened her door last Friday and met violence and death.”

Authorities say Gordon was shot at least six times, including through her hands as she apparently tried to protect herself. Baumhammers is believed to have set a small fire in a back bedroom of the Gordon home after the shooting that alerted police and firefighters to the death.

Relatives and friends said Gordon knew Baumhammers since he was 4. Gordon’s daughter, Linda, attended school with Baumhammers.

The shooting rampage’s lone survivor, 25-year-old Sandeep Patel, who is of Indian descent, remained hospitalized in critical condition Monday.

Baumhammers was charged Monday with four murders, one attempted murder, one aggravated assault, seven counts of ethnic intimidation, two counts of institutional vandalism, two counts of arson, one firearms violation and two counts of criminal mischief.

Difenderfer said Baumhammers’ parents, dentists Andrejs and Inese Baumhammers, asked the lawyer to apologize for them and “convey their utter sorrow” about the killings.

Also Monday, employees at the Ya-Fei Chinese restaurant where workers Ji-ye Sun and Thao Pham were killed Friday tried to reopen but were unable to because of their grief.

“Everybody is very emotional. We all gathered together and started crying and crying, and nobody can face the public right now. We just can’t do it. We are going to try again on Saturday,” restaurateur Kathy Yee said.