Moscow’s record not idyllic

MOSCOW, Idaho – In the wake of a sniper rampage that left four people dead and three wounded, leaders of this university town called the violence an anomaly.

While it was the biggest killing spree in Moscow history, there have been other high-profile murders and violent crimes in this town of 22,000 in recent years – proof that stone buildings, ivy-covered walls and picturesque steeples are not enough to keep the ugliness of the world at bay.

“This is a shock to the community of Moscow,” said Tim White, president of the University of Idaho, the 12,000-student school which dominates the Panhandle town.

“Our community is not used to this kind of violence,” Moscow Police Chief Dan Weaver added.

But there have been four murders in Latah County since 2000, as well as other violent crimes.

The last time Latah County recorded three murders in one year was 1997. In 2005, Moscow also reported 13 aggravated assaults, three rapes and 82 simple assaults.

A rare liberal enclave in conservative Idaho, Moscow is a classic college town. It has stone and brick public buildings, leafy residential neighborhoods and a quaint downtown filled with coffee shops and bookstores. Moscow moves to the rhythms of the academic year, and there are the usual booze-fueled weekend brawls found in any college town.

With Pullman and the 18,000 students of Washington State University just eight miles west, the Moscow-Pullman community is an academic oasis.

Jason Hamilton, 36, shattered that peace with about200 gunshots late May 19 and the next morning.

Hamilton, who worked for a custodial business, began the rampage about 10 p.m. on May 19 by killing his wife, Crystal, 30, at their rural home. Then he drove to the Latah County Courthouse, where she worked as a custodian, and poured bullets into the sheriff’s office.

He shot and killed responding Moscow Police Officer Lee Newbill, 48, the first lawman in city history killed in the line of duty. A second city officer, Bill Shields, was wounded by bullet fragments. Latah County sheriff’s Deputy Brannon Jordan was shot after he dragged Newbill away from the line of fire.

Hamilton also shot and wounded University of Idaho student Pete Husmann, 20, who heard the gunshots, grabbed a pistol and ran outside to help.

His mother, Janice, was vacationing in Arizona and at first did not believe that her son had been wounded by a gunman.

“I thought, ‘No way in Moscow,’ ” she said

Hamilton then entered the nearby First Presbyterian Church, where he killed caretaker Paul Bauer and then himself.

Hamilton was well known to local law enforcement officers. He had been arrested for domestic violence, had attempted suicide by pills in February, and then warned a mental health professional that he wanted to kill himself in a way that would harm others. But he was deemed not a threat to others and released.

He left no obvious reason for his rampage, but there is no doubt he was upset about something. Hamilton shot Newbill, Jordan and Husmann several times, even after they were down. In addition, he poured dozens of bullets into the sheriff’s office vehicles parked outside the courthouse.

“There was rage and that’s where it was directed,” Sheriff Chuck Rausch said.