Followup on Seattle's SJS (Sudden Jihad Syndrome) attack.
| Moved to Home Front: WoT, since this attack was surely part of that. |
Haq, 31, who has a long history of mental illness, initially pleaded not guilty following the July 28 shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. But at a King County Superior Court hearing before Judge Paris Kallas, he changed it to an insanity plea for the 20 charges he now faces, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, burglary, malicious harassment, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment.
The additional charges "more accurately reflect the extent of his conduct," said Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County prosecutor's office. Haq now faces one burglary charge and one charge of malicious harassment, the state's hate-crime law, for each victim, as well as the unlawful imprisonment charge.
Trial is scheduled for January. Haq would receive life in prison if convicted of aggravated murder. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, who died last week, called the shooting one of the most serious crimes in the city's history, but declined to seek the death penalty because of Haq's history of mental illness.
Haq, who grew up in the Tri-Cities area of south-central Washington, has been treated for bipolar disorder, according to prosecutors, and a family friend said he had been getting psychiatric help for 10 years.
Prosecutors said Haq waited in the vestibule of the downtown Seattle building until 14-year-old Kelsie Burkum arrived to meet Cheryl Stumbo, her aunt. He put a gun to the girl's back and followed her up the stairs to the second floor, then started shooting when one woman tried to call 911. He said he was a Muslim angry about the war in Iraq and U.S. support of Israel.
In other words - Sudden Jihad Syndrome
The shooting ended when Dayna Klein, then 17 weeks pregnant, persuaded the gunman to speak with an emergency operator after he shot Klein in the arm. He agreed to surrender, put his two guns down and walked out, hands on his head, court documents said. Klein later gave birth to a healthy boy.
Pamela Waechter, director of the center's annual fundraising campaign, was killed in the shooting.
Haq's next court date is a pretrial hearing scheduled for Nov.