Seattle federation shooting victim mourned; suspect described as unstable

Still in shock over the fatal shooting at the Seattle federation, over 1,000 people attended the funeral of Pamela Waechter on Monday, July 31 as the Jewish community said goodbye to one of its most devoted members.

On Friday, July 28, Naveed Haq allegedly forced his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and went on a shooting rampage that left Waechter dead and five others wounded. Haq was taken into custody and was charged Wednesday, Aug. 2 with one count of first-degree murder and five counts of first-degree attempted murder.

Waechter, 58, was eulogized Monday, both at her memorial service and in conversation. Born a Lutheran in Minnesota, she converted to Judaism after marrying Bill Waechter in the 1970s. The couple eventually divorced, but she remained active in the Jewish community.

She had been a fundraiser for the federation for nine years, after four years of running the food bank at Seattle's Jewish Family Service.

She served on the board of her congregation, Temple B'nai Torah in Bellevue, Wash., and was president from 1988-90. She earned the 1993 Jesse Danz Outstanding Volunteer Award from Jewish Family Service for her work, which included being a family support volunteer for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute.

"I called her 'Super Jew,'" Nicole Waechter Guzman, 36, said of her mother in an interview with the Seattle Post Intelligencer. "She embraced it wholeheartedly. She dedicated her life to it. Her whole life was Judaism. And she was killed for it."

Waechter made lunches for a women's shelter and adored her dogs. At Waechter's funeral Monday at Temple B'nai Torah, tributes flowed for an hour, with family and friends describing her as nonjudgmental, warm and loving, a go-getter who attracted people by her genuine interest in them.

Her ex-husband recalled a meeting of synagogue leadership in their home and hearing his wife "speaking above the din of 10 or 12 board members." She also spoke before 6,000 people at a Jewish convention in Dallas. "She accomplished much, touched many," he said.

Chuck Hall of Minneapolis remembered his scrappy sister as his childhood protector. If someone picked on him, he said, "she'd go in and clean clocks." As adults, they became each other's support system, especially after their father died six years ago.

Guzman, speaking for her brother, Mark, and herself, read a letter she wrote to her mom, calling her "my idol, my inspiration and my partner."

She drew sniffles and chuckles from the audience as she imagined her mother in heaven, "hanging out with our grandparents and all our dogs," and hoped that her death "will spur on peace and actions toward it."

The words of affirmation came not "just because of the way in which she died. That's not it at all," said Rabbi James Mirel. "And yet we must recognize in a deep way that the outpouring of love ... is also a reflection of the tragic way Pam was taken from us."

In Minneapolis, a service concurrent with the one in Bellevue was held at Temple Israel, where Waechter's children had attended nursery school. About 50 people — old friends, neighbors, college pals — gathered to remember the victim, even though she had left Minnesota three decades ago, Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman said.

Meanwhile, the picture that emerged of Naveed Haq, 30, was full of contradictions. Born into a Muslim family — his father was a founding member of the Islamic center in Richland, Wash. — he converted to Christianity last year. He had bipolar disorder, and was arrested in March on a charge of lewd conduct in a shopping mall in Kennewick, Wash.

His alleged attack on the federation was apparently triggered by the war in the Middle East. Citing a statement of probable cause, the Associated Press reported that Haq had told a 911 dispatcher, "These are Jews and I'm tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East."

Haq reportedly struggled with an inability to find his own identity in recent years. He graduated from Washington State University with a degree in electrical engineering, and moved to Seattle in the summer of 2004. But he had trouble finding work, and finally took a telemarketing job; Seattle Specialties fired him after four hours.

According to the Seattle Times, he was accused of deliberately failing to follow instructions — misconduct that prompted a state administrative law judge to order him disqualified from collecting at least 10 weeks of unemployment benefits.

Thomas de Winter, owner of Seattle Specialties, told the Times that Haq "didn't take instruction well," and "proceeded to make a huge deal of the thing in unemployment court ... He was a hothead."

Haq's attorney in the lewd conduct case, Larry Stephenson, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer that Haq's mother urged her son not to go to Seattle because he'd had bad luck there and she wanted to keep tabs on him.

"It's every parent's nightmare to have this happen, when your son is mentally ill. They've spent a small fortune helping him get OK, all to no avail," Stephenson said. The lawyer said the family tried to make sure Haq took the medication for his bipolar condition.

Haq's parents issued a statement of condolence. "We could not have imagined for a moment that our son would do this senseless act," Mian and Nahida Haq said. "We have always believed and practiced in fostering love, peace and harmony with everyone, irrespective of religion, race and ethnicity."

Several Arab and Muslim groups also condemned the crime.

"There is no room for the kind of despicable action that occurred in Seattle," James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said Saturday, July 29. "The tragic conflict raging in the Middle East cannot be used as justification for any criminal act of hate in this country. It is wrong and we reject it."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a similar statement.

Seattle's Muslim community offered messages of condolence and support, and two Muslim women helped lay flowers at B'nai Torah. Muslim leaders told local reporters they feared a backlash similar to what they experienced after 9/11. A march scheduled for Saturday calling for a cease-fire in the Middle East was canceled, as were events slated for last Friday at a city mosque.

At a vigil in a Seattle park on Saturday, July 29, approximately 50 community members, some of them current or former employees of the federation, gathered to pray and speak about the incident. Several attendees, including at least one Muslim leader, expressed hope that the shooting could be used as an opportunity to build better relations between the local Jews and Muslims.