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U.S. NEWS Thursday 27 February 2020

Report: Domestic extremists killed at least 42 in 2019

the Black Hebrew Israelite was helping Trump defend
movement, which defies a democracy.
simple "left-right" classifica- "Extremist conspiracy the-
tion, the ADL says. ories can create such a
"It is important to remem- sense of urgency in their
ber that extremist murders followers that some of them
represent merely the tip of may feel motivated to act,"
a pyramid of extremist vio- the ADL report says.
lence in the United States," None of the 42 killings last
the report says. "For every year was linked to domes-
person killed by an extrem- tic Islamist extremism, a
ist, many more are wound- first since 2012. However,
ed or injured in attempted a Saudi Arabian aviation
murders and assaults." student accused of fatally
Fourteen of the 17 cases shooting three people at a
of killings by domestic ex- U.S. naval base in Pensac-
tremists last year involved ola, Florida, in December is
a single death, the ADL believed to be motivated
says. One of those appears by Islamic extremism.
to be the first killing linked The base shootings ap-
to QAnon, a far-right con- peared to be the first le-
spiracy theory that centers thal foreign terror attack
on the baseless belief that on American soil since the
President Donald Trump 9/11 terror attacks, the ADL
is waging a secret cam- report says. The group's
paign against enemies annual tally of domestic
in the "deep state" and a extremism slayings doesn't
In this Aug. 12, 2019 photo, mourners visit the makeshift memorial near the Walmart in El Paso, child sex trafficking ring run include foreign terrorist at-
Texas, where 22 people were killed in a mass shooting that police are investigating as a terrorist by satanic pedophiles and tacks on U.S. soil.
attack targeting Latinos.
Associated Press cannibals. "It is clear the threat to the
Anthony Comello, who is U.S. from Islamist extremists
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN in 1995 and the Pulse night- "This should no longer come charged with killing a New willing to commit violent
Associated Press club shooting by Omar Ma- as a shock to anyone," York mob boss in March acts remains a serious one,"
White supremacists and teen in 2016 were deadlier the ADL's CEO, Jonathan 2019, displayed QAnon- the report adds.
other far-right extremists attacks by domestic ex- Greenblatt, said in a state- related messages on his The ADL, founded in 1913,
killed at least 38 people in tremists in the past 50 years, ment. hand during a court hear- describes itself as a "global
the U.S. in 2019, the sixth according to the New York "Lawmakers, law enforce- ing. A defense attorney has leader in exposing extrem-
deadliest year for violence City-based ADL. ment and the public need claimed Comello was de- ism, delivering anti-bias ed-
by all domestic extremists The ADL's annual Murder to recognize the grave and luded by internet conspira- ucation and fighting hate
since 1970, according to a and Extremism report says dangerous threat posed by cy theories and thought he online."q
report issued Wednesday domestic extremists of all violent white supremacy.
by a group that fights anti- kinds killed 42 people in a We cannot begin to defeat
semitism. total of 17 separate inci- this deadly form of hatred if
The Anti-Defamation dents last year, down from we fail to even recognize
League counted a total 53 killings in 2018 but higher it."
of 42 domestic extremism- than the 41 in 2017. The four killings that weren't
related slayings last year. "This is part of a general deemed to be acts of vio-
The gunman who shot and trend of increasingly le- lence by far-right extremists
killed 22 people in August thal attacks by domestic were from the same case:
2019 at a Walmart in El extremists in the United the December 2019 at-
Paso, Texas, accounted States," the report says. tacks in Jersey City, New
for more than half of them. Four of the deadliest years Jersey, that killed a police
Patrick Crusius, the suspect for extremist-related vio- officer in a cemetery and
in that shooting rampage, lence have occurred in the three people at a kosher
is accused of targeting past five years, according grocery store.
Mexicans at the store and to the ADL. Authorities said the attack-
faces federal hate crime Right-wing extremists killed ers, David Anderson and
charges. at least 330 people over Francine Graham, were
Only the Oklahoma City the past decade, account- motivated by a hatred of
bombing by Timothy ing for 76% of all domestic Jewish people and law en-
McVeigh and Terry Nichols extremist-related killings. forcement. Both had ties to