10-Year Old Son Held in Death of California Neo-Nazi Leader
UPDATE: More information on the shooting has been included at the end of this post.
For prominent California neo-Nazi leader Jeff Hall, non-whites, Jews, gays, immigrants and other purported undesirables had no place in a perfect world. In the end, police suspect, the gun that cut short his life Sunday was fired not by someone he hated, but by someone he presumably loved鈥 his 10-year-old son.
Hall died early Sunday morning. Gunshots were reported at his home shortly after 4 a.m.
As of this morning, police in Riverside, Calif., had not yet said whether they believe the shooting of Hall, the California director and southwest regional leader of the (NSM), was accidental or deliberate. According to The New York Times, Hall鈥檚 son was 鈥渄etained鈥 and no other suspects were being sought. Hall was married with five young children.
The website of the NSM, which is currently the largest neo-Nazi group in America with 50 chapters in 32 states, described Hall鈥檚 death as a 鈥渕urder,鈥 although no explanation is offered. NSM 鈥淐ommander鈥 wrote: 鈥淐omrades, It is with great sorrow, and a heavy heart that I inform you of the loss of our Southwestern States Regional Director Jeff Hall. Today (May 1st, 2011), Jeff Hall was found murdered in his home in Riverside, California. 鈥 Jeff Hall was like a Brother to me. 鈥 We miss you. See you in Valhalla!鈥
The white nationalist community 鈥渟uffered a body blow,鈥 with Hall鈥檚 death, according to the white nationalist website White Reference.
Hall is the second prominent white supremacist leader to die violently this year. American Front founder , 40, was March 2 at his home in Citrus Heights, Calif., a Sacramento suburb. American Front is a nationwide skinhead coalition modeled after Britain鈥檚 racist National Front. Police still have not identified a suspect in Lynch鈥檚 murder, although a former associate, Charles 鈥淐harlie Boots鈥 Demar, was arrested on other charges, and is considered a 鈥減erson of interest鈥 in the Lynch case.
Hall, 32, who advocated for a 鈥渨hite nation鈥 and often led rallies of white supremacists giving stiff-armed Nazi salutes and waving swastika-adorned flags amid hundreds of angry counter-protesters, was considered something of a rising star in the neo-Nazi universe. He had organized racist rallies at a day-laborer center and local synagogues. He also made news last fall when he for the Western Municipal Water District board of directors in Riverside County. He didn鈥檛 post campaign signs or attend a candidate forum. Although Hall is a plumber by trade, he listed no occupation on the ballot.
When the media determined that the candidate was, in fact, the Jeff Hall of the NSM, he didn鈥檛 recoil. 鈥淚 want a white nation,鈥 he told a reporter. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 hide what I am, and I don鈥檛 want to water that down.鈥 Hall was defeated by his opponent, receiving 27.8% (8,139 votes) of the 29,243 votes cast 鈥 not an overwhelming number, but more than one might expect a neo-Nazi to receive (most voters likely had no idea of his affiliation). Hall called the results 鈥渁 major victory for American National Socialism.鈥 He wrote, 鈥淚t is a great victory when a National Socialist candidate receives over a quarter of the votes for an elected position in his district.鈥
According to the Times, Hall held monthly NSM chapter meetings at his home, one of which a reporter for the newspaper attended. In that meeting, Hall announced plans for a May 鈥減atrol鈥 to watch for undocumented people illegally crossing the Mexican border in Arizona. 鈥淵ou guys get your Glocks cocked and get ready to rock,鈥 Hall reportedly told chapter members. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to the border. That鈥檚 how we do it.鈥
Hall had participated in earlier armed forays to the border. In June 2010, Hall, fellow NSM member , and about eight other people congregated in Arizona鈥檚 Vekol Valley. Hall said the goal of their operation was to 鈥渇ight the [Mexican drug] cartels and reclaim the land.鈥 Armed with pistols and high-powered rifles, the group led patrols through the desert and 鈥渟ecured鈥 an abandoned building. They claimed to have apprehended three illegal immigrants attempting a border crossing, although that was not independently confirmed.
The NSM says that only heterosexual 鈥減ure-blood whites鈥 should be allowed U.S. citizenship and that all non-whites should be deported, regardless of legal status. As Schoep put it: 鈥淭he Constitution was written by white men alone. Therefore, it was intended for whites alone.鈥 But the group worships not an American, but a German leader: Adolf Hitler, described as 聽鈥淥ur Fuhrer, the beloved Holy Father of our age 鈥 a visionary in every respect.鈥
NSM has its roots in the original American Nazi Party, which was founded in 1959 by former Navy Cmdr. George Lincoln Rockwell. Seven years after Rockwell was murdered by one of his followers in 1967, two of his chief lieutenants, Robert Brannen and Cliff Herrington, formed the National Socialist American Workers Freedom Movement in St. Paul, Minn. Leadership passed in 1994 to Schoep, who gave the group its present name.
Due in part to a leadership vacuum created by the deaths of key American neo-Nazi leaders including of the , who died in 2002, and the 鈥 , who died in 2004, the NSM evolved into one of the largest neo-Nazi organizations in the country.
UPDATE: Riverside Police spokesman Lt. Ed Blevins around midday Monday said that Hall鈥檚 shooting "was an intentional act" and that one of Hall鈥檚 children has been "booked for investigation of murder," according to the Associated Press. Blevins did not name the child, although earlier media reports indicated his 10-year-old son. Blevins said the motive for the shooting has not been determined, and that an autopsy was pending. The Riverside County coroner鈥檚 office in a press release said that Hall died of a single gunshot wound "fired by a known assailant."