The Dark Path of Richard Baumhammers

Roots and Early Life

Richard Scott Baumhammers entered the world on May 17, 1965, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a city that would later become the backdrop for his heinous acts. Born to Andrejs and Inese Baumhammers, Richard's parents were Latvian immigrants who fled the Soviet occupation, seeking a new life in America. Both parents carved out successful careers in academia as faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Dental Medicine and operated a thriving dental practice on Fifth Avenue.

Growing up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, Richard was the second child, following his older sister Daina. He found his place on the Mt. Lebanon High School football team as a second-string kicker, but his path was far from ordinary. After high school, Baumhammers pursued higher education at Kent State University, graduating in 1989. His academic journey continued at Cumberland Law School in Alabama, where he was described as "gregarious" and a good student, landing in the top third of his class.

Baumhammers' thirst for knowledge led him to the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law in California. There, he specialized in transnational business practice, immigration law, and international law, earning a master's degree. In the mid-1990s, Baumhammers lived in Atlanta, Georgia, actively participating in the Georgia Bar Association's International Law Section.

A Troubled Mind

Returning to Pittsburgh in the late 1990s, Baumhammers lived with his parents, grappling with emotional turmoil. His battle with mental illness began as early as 1993, leading to multiple voluntary admissions to psychiatric wards. His father, Andrejs, noted signs of mental instability since Richard was four years old. Baumhammers developed an obsession with his appearance, convinced that sunlight had scarred his face despite dermatologists' reassurances of normalcy.

The paranoia extended to a belief that the FBI was monitoring their home, prompting him to communicate with his parents only through written notes in the basement. In a particularly desperate moment, he even asked his parents to take him to Dr. Kevorkian for assisted suicide. By May 1999, Baumhammers was diagnosed with delusional disorder at Pittsburgh's Western Psychiatric Institute. Over the years, he consulted with eight psychiatrists, four clinical psychologists, and experimented with 16 different medications.

Travels and Isolation

In 1993, Baumhammers embarked on a European vacation that left him emotionally disturbed. His father recounted how Richard felt euphoric in Ukraine but paranoid in Finland, believing he was being followed. By 1997, Richard was living in Riga, Latvia, pursuing Latvian citizenship and attempting to reclaim family properties lost during the Soviet occupation. His efforts were futile, as he missed the deadline for claims. While in Latvia, Baumhammers mostly kept to himself, occasionally socializing with native Latvians and a few Latvian Americans. Those who knew him there did not recall any racist remarks or violent tendencies, though some described him as socially awkward, especially around women.

Embrace of Extremism

While in Latvia, Baumhammers began to publish writings on his website, "The Free Market Party," where he voiced concerns about the demographic changes in America, expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler and Timothy McVeigh. He sought to establish a political party to echo these beliefs but failed to recruit any followers. In the fall of 1999, his extremist views led to an altercation in Paris, where he was arrested for striking a bartender he mistakenly believed was Jewish. He claimed mental illness to the police and was quickly evaluated before being released.

On April 30, 1999, Baumhammers legally purchased a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, days before being diagnosed with delusional disorder. Living with his parents, he frequented white supremacist websites, becoming a registered user on the neo-Nazi Stormfront forum. His online activities included downloading extremist materials and engaging in a brief relationship with a woman linked to Matthew Hale's World Church of the Creator. The Wilkinsburg shooting on March 1, 2000, further inspired Baumhammers to plan his retaliatory attack.

The Rampage Unfolds

April 28, 2000, marked a day of terror in the Pittsburgh area. At 1:30 p.m. EDT, Baumhammers began his shooting spree by killing his 63-year-old Jewish neighbor, Anita "Nicki" Gordon, and setting her house ablaze. The Gordons had been family friends for 31 years. Baumhammers then drove through various suburbs in Allegheny County, leaving a trail of devastation.

In Scott Township, he fired shots into the Beth El Congregation synagogue and spray-painted swastikas and the word "Jew" on the building. He then shot and killed 31-year-old Anil Thakur at the India Grocer and paralyzed store manager Sandip Patel, who later died from complications. In Carnegie, he shot out windows at the Ahavath Achim Congregation before heading to Robinson Township, where he killed two people at a Chinese restaurant. His rampage continued to the C.S. Kim School of Karate, where he murdered Garry Lee, a 22-year-old African American.

Baumhammers' spree lasted two hours, spanning 15 miles across two counties, until his arrest in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, at 3:30 p.m. EDT. A search of his home revealed a manifesto advocating violence against "third world" immigrants, signed by Baumhammers as the "chairman" of the "Free Market Party."

The Trial and Its Aftermath

May 1, 2000, saw Baumhammers charged with 19 crimes, including five counts of criminal homicide and numerous hate crime-related offenses. His bond was set at $1 million. Initially deemed unfit for trial, he underwent psychiatric treatment. On May 9, 2001, a jury found him guilty on all charges, and two days later, they recommended the death penalty.

Despite appeals, Baumhammers remains on death row, his execution stayed indefinitely. In 2019, an appeal against his conviction and sentence was denied. The families of his victims pursued a civil suit against his parents, resulting in an out-of-court settlement in 2009.

Sources

For further details, the original Wikipedia article provides a comprehensive account of Richard Baumhammers' life and crimes: Wikipedia: Richard Baumhammers.