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Baumhammers had plenty to imitate

Richard Baumhammers had plenty of killers to imitate.

According to Alfred Blumstein, a criminology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Baumhammers' case resembles similar shootings in July 1999 in which a gunman shot Asians and Jews and then killed former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, a black.

This gunman, like Baumhammers, grew up in the affluent northern suburbs of Chicago. His father was a doctor and his mother a real estate agent.

According to Blumstein the similarities between the two cases extend to the high-powered weapons used by the killers.

Another similar shooting incident happened on March 1 when a black man Ronald Taylor killed three white men and wounded two others at an apartment building and two fast-food restaurants in Wilkinsburg.

The suspect was found incompetent to stand trial because he was suffering from schizophrenia and is being held at Mayview State Hospital.

With growing ethnic diversity in the United States, increase in hate-crimes is becoming a growing concern. Many citizens see more stringent gun-control laws as one way of dealing with this. Others believe more education in diversity would be a more effective way.

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