Skinheads Suspected In Slaying Of Youth -- Olympia Officials Concerned At Breakout Of Racial Violence

OLYMPIA - The slaying of a young man only blocks from the governor's mansion proves anew that the deadly politics of hatred can visit small-town Washington, too, authorities say.

Olympia police now say the Aug. 10 beating death of Robert Buchanan Jr., a 17-year-old of Asian-Caucasian descent, came at the hands of two men they refer to as racist skinheads, as opposed to non-racist skinheads.

Buchanan was found beaten to death in a railroad tunnel in downtown Olympia, a peaceful area about 10 minutes on foot from the Statehouse and governor's mansion.

CLASH BETWEEN GROUPS

He died after a night of beer drinking with two skinheads he had met at a downtown park, said police Lt. Clark Taylor.

The two Seattle men, who falsely represented themselves as members of a non-racist skinhead group, didn't like Buchanan's Asian ancestry and his identification with non-racist skinheads, Taylor said.

Gov. Booth Gardner, who has championed tougher laws against hate crimes such as cross-burnings and defacement of synagogues, said he was shocked by the crime.

"It is easy to think of this as an urban problem," Gardner said.

"But this thing, this threat to Democracy and our way of life is happening right here in the small towns of America. It is time for people to wake up," he said.

"Skinheads are out there. They're in every town along the I-5 corridor," Taylor said.

He said the two skinheads, a 20-year-old and a 22-year-old, soon will be charged with murder.

"We're waiting for lab results and trying to determine whether we have enough evidence to show premeditation," Taylor said.

"The men are in jail so there is no hurry to file charges," he said.

SUSPECTED IN SECOND DEATH

The two are being held in the Thurston County Jail awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges in the unrelated shooting death hours later of Ralph Hamick, 60, of Napavine.

Hamick was hit by a bullet when the skinheads got into a dispute with another man outside a Grand Mound convenience store.

Hamick was killed while sleeping in a truck parked at the store, Thurston County sheriffs deputies said. The shooting is not considered a hate crime.

Taylor said detectives have determined that both skinheads have records of malicious harassment and physical assault, based on their targets' race, religion or political beliefs.

Bill Wassmuth, the director of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, said the 20-year-old is the registered renter of a Bainbridge Island postal box from which hate literature is mailed under the name "White Aryan Youth."

MUCH MORE THAN FLIERS

"We had hoped that this young man was simply somebody distributing fliers. Obviously, he has gone much further," Wassmuth said.

One of the fliers says, "White man. You are the target of Jewish world oppressors and other non-white races. You are the minority and are quickly losing your rights. Do not let the Z.O.G (Zionist Occupational Government) finish turning us into a communist state."

Wassmuth said racist skinheads typically are quick to physically attack anybody who disagrees with their philosophy.

And Buchanan, given his obviously Asian ancestry, his leather garb and his views on Nazis, would have been a quick target, he said.

`A REAL NONVIOLENT PERSON'

Mike Pritchard, who runs a coffee counter in downtown Olympia, knew Buchanan and described him as "a real nice guy, a real non-violent person" who fashioned himself a member of Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, or SHARP, a group that often clashes with racist skinheads.

"I think he wore the (skinhead) jacket because he was a peaceful person but he liked being identified with tough guys," Pritchard said.

Buchanan's parents have declined to talk to reporters.