Furrow's plea entered at Monday's arraignment deals only with the Ileto murder MESSAGE BOARD Hate crimes

August 30, 1999
Web posted at: 1:34 p.m. EDT (1734 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Avowed white supremacist Buford Furrow Jr. pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges of murdering a Philippine-American postal worker shortly after a shooting spree at a Jewish community center near Los Angeles.

Authorities said Furrow confessed to shooting Joseph Ileto nine times, and that he said he did so because Ileto was not white and worked for the federal government. Furrow is charged with murder, using a firearm in a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

After trial on the federal charges -- two of which carry a possible death sentence -- Furrow will face state charges in California of murder, attempted murder and carjacking.

The plea entered at Monday's arraignment dealt only with the Ileto murder.

But the federal government could also add hate crimes allegations that would encompass the August 10 shooting that wounded five people at the Jewish Community Center in suburban Granada Hills.

Prosecutors say Furrow walked into the center and began firing randomly, wounding three young boys, a teen-age girl and a 68-year-old grandmother working as a receptionist.

Authorities say he then drove to the suburb of Chatsworth. There he allegedly approached Ileto, asked about mailing letters, drew a gun and shot the postal worker to death.

A day later, Furrow showed up in Las Vegas where he turned himself in.

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