DOC pays victims $2.25 million in case involving ex-Olympia man

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | • Published March 12, 2008

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The state Department of Corrections will pay $2.25 million to five children who were shot or traumatized when a parolee from Washington attacked a California Jewish community center in August 1999.

"We all try to make sense of these senseless acts of hate and violence," Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail said in a news release today. "I hope in some small way these families will be able to find peace and resolution."

Buford Furrow Jr., formerly of Olympia, had been out of prison for three months following an assault conviction when he stormed the North Valley Jewish Community Center in the Granada Hills area of Los Angeles, firing 70 bullets and injuring three boys, a teenage girl who worked as a camp counselor and a female receptionist.

He then drove away and killed Joseph Ileto, a Postal Service carrier.

When he surrendered in Las Vegas the next day, he told police he intended to send a "wake-up call to America to kill Jews."

Furrow, who had a history of mental illness, pleaded guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty and is serving a life sentence in federal prison.

The families of the three wounded boys - Joshua Stepakoff, Benjamin Kadish and James Zidell - and of two who also were there - Ben's brother, Joshua, and Nathan Powers - filed a $15 million claim in 2006.

The families argued that corrections staff failed to properly supervise Furrow or visit his home and should have discovered that he had firearms and ammunition.

Following the shooting, the Legislature strengthened the supervision of parolees and gave the DOC more authority to impose conditions on their release.

"The department feels like this is the right thing to do," said the agency's risk manager, Kathy Gastreich. "It's been a lot of years since this tragedy occurred, and there's been a lot of changes in our policies and the law since then."

The case had been scheduled for trial in King County Superior Court in April.

Michael Withey, the Seattle lawyer who represented the families, said they are gratified by the settlement as well as the DOC's "heartfelt apologies for the tragedy that has befallen our sons."

Withey also represented Ileto's wife in a federal lawsuit against Loaner Too, an Everett pawn shop where Furrow retrieved the pistol he used to shoot the mail carrier.

That case, which claimed that Furrow should not have been able to obtain the weapon because he had been convicted of a felony, was settled this year for undisclosed terms.