F. Glenn Miller Jr. tells jurors he regrets not killing more people

With chilling nonchalance, F. Glenn Miller Jr. on Friday described to a Johnson County jury how he used a shotgun to kill three people last year in Overland Park.

“It’s premeditated, no doubt about it,” he said as a courtroom full of spectators looked on in silence. “I’m proud of myself. I feel good about it.”

The biggest regret he has, Miller said, is that he didn’t kill more people.

The shooting spree on April 13, 2014, at the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom care center was fueled by Miller’s virulent hatred of Jewish people and his belief in a Jewish conspiracy to destroy the “white race.”

“On most days,” he said, “it’s the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing I think about at night.”

Miller, who is representing himself, was the only defense witness to testify after prosecutors rested their case Thursday. After Miller rested his case late Friday afternoon, District Judge Kelly Ryan dismissed jurors and told them to return Monday morning for closing arguments.

If jurors find him guilty of capital murder, a second trial phase will be held to determine if the 74-year-old man will be sentenced to death or life in prison with no parole.

Miller’s testimony Friday mirrored previous written and oral statements he has made since his arrest minutes after the shootings.

He said his intent was to kill as many Jewish people as he could.

But the three victims — William Corporon, 69, his grandson Reat Underwood, 14, and Terri LaManno, 53 — were all Christians.

Miller said he was surprised there were Christians at a Jewish facility and chose that day for the assault because a talent competition was being held at the community center. Reat was there to compete, according to previous testimony.

Miller said he felt no remorse for killing the adults because they was associating with Jews, but he said he regretted killing “the boy,” who he thought was older.

If Reat had been a 14-year-old Jewish boy, District Attorney Steve Howe asked Miller on cross-examination, would he have shot him?

“Yeah, I probably would have,” Miller told Howe. “If you had been there, I’d have probably shot you too.”

Miller said he had driven to and around the facilities on several previous occasions to scout the layout. On the day of the killings, he arrived in the morning, but not seeing people outside, he decided to leave and drive back to his home in southern Missouri.

But he changed his mind and drove back. He spotted Corporon and his grandson in a pickup truck parked near the entrance. Two others were walking by, so Miller said he stopped with the thought of shooting all four.

Parking behind Corporon’s truck, he retrieved a shotgun from his car trunk and pointed it at Corporon.

“He looked me in the eye,” Miller testified. “He showed no fear.”

Then Miller pulled the trigger, striking Corporon in the head with a load of buckshot. By then, the two who had been walking were running away. He fired one shot but didn’t hit them.

He then pointed the shotgun at Reat and shot him in the head.

Miller then turned toward the center and fired into the front doors. When he ran out of ammunition, he retrieved a rifle from his trunk and fired it until it jammed.

He fired shots at three other people in the parking lot, but none of them was hit.

Driving from the center, he went to Village Shalom nearby and came across LaManno, who was there to visit her mother. Miller said he spoke to her briefly, telling her he was looking for a friend.

He then attempted to shoot her, but the weapon didn’t fire. He then pulled out a second shotgun and fired as she screamed. The shot hit her in the neck, severing her spine.

Miller said he chose to use buckshot because he didn’t want them to suffer.

“I wanted to kill them, and I wanted to kill them quick,” he said.

Before giving his account of the killings, Miller spent about an hour on the witness stand delivering a rambling, disjointed soliloquy about his anti-Semitic beliefs.

Prosecutors objected to his attempts to introduce videos and news articles, which the judge had already told him would not be allowed.

Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., raised the issue of black-on-white crime and how it angered him in the past.

He told jurors about picking up black prostitutes and taking them to secluded areas to “beat the hell out of them.”

But now, Miller said, he blames Jews for inciting blacks to hate whites through the mass media that he says they control.

Miller told jurors he wanted them to understand what was on his mind on the day of the crime.

To do that, he said, he needed to show them news articles and videos that filled his mind with information and “vivid images.”

Miller has been consumed for more than 40 years by what described as the “Jewish problem,” he said.

He said he tried to work in the system legally, running for political office several times.

He also compared himself to George Washington, a patriot who rose up to fight tyranny.

“I submit I had no criminal intent,” Miller said of his actions. “I had patriotic intent.”

The Star’s previous trial coverage:

Day 1: As the trial opens, F. Glenn Miller Jr. puts himself at the scene of the Jewish center shootings.

Day 2: Jurors view police video of F. Glenn Miller Jr. just after his arrest.

Day 3: Prosecutors are close to finishing the case against F. Glenn Miller Jr.

Day 4: F. Glenn Miller Jr. will begin his defense case Friday.

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 9:34 AM with the headline "F. Glenn Miller Jr. tells jurors he regrets not killing more people."