HATE CRIME

Montana Shooter Tried to ‘Rid’ His Town of LGBT+ People: Feds

John Russell Howald told a local pastor “he might have killed a lesbian and that he hoped he had,” prosecutors say.

A 46-year-old man from a tiny town in Montana has been sentenced to 18 years in prison on federal hate crime charges, after he shot at a gay woman’s house and nearly killed her with an AK-47 with the intent of “ridding a town of LGBTQI+ residents,” according to prosecutors. On March 22, 2020, John Russell Howald armed himself with three rifles and two pistols, and fired an assault rifle into the house of a woman who “identified as a lesbian,” the feds say. She was at home at the time but was not injured. On his way to target other local queer people, Howald ran into a congregation leaving a church service, and told them about “his mission of killing lesbian and gay people in town,” according to prosecutors. The pastor attempted to talk Howald down and inadvertently recorded 10 mins of their conversation, in which Howald said “he might have killed a lesbian and that he hoped he had,” according to court documents. Howald fled but was arrested the next day. He was convicted of hate and firearms crimes in February.