The man suspected of opening fire on children at a Jewish community centre outside Los Angeles surrendered to police in Las Vegas yesterday declaring that his actions had been intended as "a wake-up call" for Jews.
The alleged gunman is linked with two white supremacist groups with a record for violence and has a history of mental illness. He will be charged with five attempted murders following Tuesday's shootings and with the killing of a postal worker who was shot near the LA community centre on the same day.
Mr Buford Oneal Furrow jnr (37), from Lynnwood in the state of Washington, eluded a massive police search in LA overnight by taking two taxis - one to the Nevada border and one from there to Las Vegas, a total of 274 miles - only to turn himself in to the FBI yesterday morning.
He had been named as the prime suspect in the shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Centre in Granada Hills in the San Fernando valley. He has connections with the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations group and had literature from the American Nazi party in his van.
An FBI source said Mr Furrow had told investigators "he wanted this to be a wake-up call to America to kill Jews".
A five-year-old boy underwent a six-hour operation and was said to be still critical but off the immediate danger list yesterday. Two other boys, both aged six, a 16-year-old summer camp counsellor and the 68-year-old receptionist at the centre were all said to be recovering. More than 200 children were attending a summer camp at the school when the gunman opened fire.
Mr Furrow is then believed to have entered the centre and fired off more than 70 rounds before fleeing. Within 20 minutes he had hijacked a green Toyota, forcing the woman driver from the car. The car was traced to a motel, but Mr Furrow had fled. However, less than 24 hours later, he had surrendered.
In the mid-80s Mr Furrow acted as a security guard in Idaho for the Aryan Nations group which believes that Jewish people are half-human, half-Satan and that black people are sub-human.
He later lived with Ms Debbie Mathews, the widow of Robert Mathews, the former head of the Order, a white supremacist group. Mathews died in a shootout with the FBI in 1985 after a series of bank robberies.
Last year, Mr Furrow, who collects weapons and military equipment, attempted to have himself committed to a psychiatric hospital but attacked a member of staff with a knife. He was convicted in April, but put on probation. He is also understood to have attempted suicide.
Tuesday's shooting provoked outrage from President Clinton. The governor of California, Mr Gray Davis, said that further gun control was now needed.