WASHINGTON, July 30: The man accused of barging into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and killing one woman and wounding five others is a young American of Pakistani origin.
Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, who appeared on Saturday before a district court in Seattle, will be prosecuted on murder and attempted-murder charges.
Police said he was armed with two handguns and extra ammunition.
A spokesman for the Harborview Medical Centre told reporters that three of his victims were in critical condition.
Sources in Haq’s community in West Richland, Washington, said he was a quiet loner in a well-known family of Tri-Cities.
Haq told police dispatchers he was angered by the war in Iraq and the United States’ military cooperation with Israel.
Haq’s father, Mian Haq, moved to the US from Pakistan in the 1970s. Haq was born in the US.
For more than a decade, Haq battled an ever-worsening mental illness.
In March, prosecutors said, Haq climbed on top of a fountain in a Richland-area mall, and exposed himself to women.
Prosecutors said Haq briefly held one of the victims hostage and told police dispatchers: “I want these Jews to get out.”
In a recorded conversation with police detailed in court documents, Haq said: “I’m not upset at people. I’m upset at your foreign policy. I’m tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East. I just want US to get out of Iraq,” Haq reportedly said. I’m an American too, but I want our people out of Iraq.”
AFP adds: Haq appeared in the court for a bail hearing, the Seattle Times reported.
King County Judge Barbara Linde set bail at $50 million, the paper said.
