State to pay $2.25 million to settle suit over shooting rampage

The Washington State Department of Corrections has agreed to pay more than $2 million to the families of five California children who were shot and wounded by a prison parolee in 1999.

Buford Furrow Jr., a self-avowed white supremacist, pleaded guilty to the shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Southern California as well as the slaying of postal worker Joseph Ileto. In 2006, the families of the wounded children filed a $15 million claim against the state Department of Corrections.

The claim contends corrections officials failed to monitor Furrow sufficiently to prevent him from obtaining the guns he used in the shootings. The agency also failed to obtain his psychiatric records and assess his mental health, and it should have paid more attention to his white-supremacist ties, according to the lawsuit. Corrections Chief Eldon Vail announced the $2.25 million settlement this morning.

"This was a tragedy that shocked us all. The victims and their families have our deepest sympathies," Vail said in a news release.

Furrow Jr. is serving a life sentence in a federal prison.

Furrow graduated from Timberline High School in Lacey, Thurston County, in 1979. He once lived in Pend Oreille County with Debra Mathews, widow of Robert Mathews, who founded the neo-Nazi group The Order.

According to law-enforcement accounts at the time, in 1999 Furrow drove to Los Angeles from his home in Washington in a van loaded with weapons. Over a period of days, he allegedly scouted out several Jewish institutions for attack. He settled on the community center.

After firing more than 70 rounds at the center, Furrow left. He then walked up to Ileto, asked him to mail a letter and shot him.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com