Utah Man Hit With Hate Crime for Shooting Up Salt Lake City Synagogue

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Sign up for Forwarding the News, our essential morning briefing with trusted, nonpartisan news and analysis, curated by Senior Writer Benyamin Cohen.
A 21-year-old Utah man was indicted on federal hate crimes charges for firing shots at a Salt Lake City synagogue last year.
Macon Michael Openshaw of Salt Lake City was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court there for allegedly firing several rounds from a handgun, breaking windows and damaging a window frame at the Kol Ami synagogue sometime between January and April 2012, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
A search of Openshaw’s home revealed the Walther .22 caliber handgun, according to the newspaper, as well as a sawed-off SKS automatic rifle.
In 2011, Openshaw pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of a deadly weapon. The following year he pleaded guilty to assaulting his 65-year-old grandmother.