Three people were killed in two brazen shootings at Kansas Jewish centers police said Sunday — the day before the Passover holiday begins – in what may have been an anti-Semitic attack.
The three victims were shot in the Kansas City, Kan., suburb of Overland Park, around 1 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) at a Jewish community center and a Jewish retirement home, police said.
A person of interest was in custody, officials said. He was described as a man in his 70s, with a beard, and not from Kansas.
Overland Park police officials said two men died at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City campus and one woman killed at Village Shalom, which is a retirement community that is several blocks away from the center. Two other people were shot at at the center, but unhurt, police said.
A photographer on the scene with Kansas City NBC affiliate KSHB spoke with a man who said a gunman aimed at him and shot the windows out of his car. That person was not injured, the station said.
Local KSHB reporter Andres Gutierrez told MSNBC that one person was taken away in the back of a police at a nearby elementary school — and yelled an anti-Semitic remark (“Heil Hitler”) at onlookers.
Officials confirmed with NBC News that the FBI was on the scene assisting local authorities. Agents with the local field office said there was no early read on a motive, but a press conference is scheduled for Sunday evening.
Auditions for the "KC SuperStar" singing competition were scheduled to be held Sunday at the community center. The website for KC SuperStar, which is a singing competition for high school students, said the auditions were cancelled.
— Hasani Gittens, Tricia Culligan and Tom Winter
