Devon Arthurs, 18, of Tampa, Florida, has admitted to murdering two of his roommates, aged 22 and 18, after the latter criticized his conversion to Islam.
All three had been white supremacists, until Arthurs changed ideologies, thus raising the ire of his buddies. A fourth roommate has been arrested, after police found large amounts of explosives in their apartment and a framed photo of Oklahoma City bomber/murderer Timothy McVeigh.
After the double murder, Arthurs took three hostages at a nearby shop. Police soon arrived on the scene and convinced him to release the hostages and give himself up.
Police sources quoted Arthurs as referring to "Allah Mohammed" and saying, "I had to do it," and "This wouldn’t have had to happen if your country didn’t bomb my country."
According to the police report, when detectives interviewed Arthurs and inquired about a motive for the killings, "Arthurs claimed that he and his roommates shared a common neo-Nazi belief, until Arthurs recently converted to Islam. He said his roommates disrespected his Muslim faith."
"He also said he had become angered by what he described as the world’s anti-Muslim sentiment and wanted to bring attention to his cause."
The Clarion Project commented, "While emotionally-disturbed individuals will always exist, we can and ought to act to shut down hateful ideologies which play on existing insecurities and promote and inflame pre-existing hateful tendencies to the point of violence."