A man who shot up a woman’s home with an AK-style rifle before setting out to rid his tiny Montana community of its LGBTQ+ residents has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison.
John Russell Howald was convicted by a federal jury in February of a hate crime for firing at the woman, who was a known lesbian, and targeting other LGBTQ residents in Basin, Montana. The sentence handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris will be followed by five years of supervised release.
“Howald fired multiple shots into someone’s home based solely on her sexual orientation, and only the heroic and brave actions of residents and law enforcement, as well as some good fortune, prevented a targeted mass shooting,” said Jesse Laslovich, U.S. attorney for the District of Montana. “It is the kind of conduct that has no place in Montana.”
Basin is an unincorporated community about halfway between Butte and Helena. The U.S. Census Bureau tabulated its 2020 population at just 267, and according to Visit Montana, the town has developed into an artist’s colony, “giving this tiny town a lively, electric feel.”
Group of churchgoers thwarted deadly mission
Court documents say Howald set out on on Sunday, March 22, 2020, on a self-described mission to rid Basin of its LGBTQ+ inhabitants. Armed with two assault rifles, a hunting rifle, two pistols, and multiple high-capacity magazines taped together to accelerate reloading, he first marched to the residence of a woman he believed to be lesbian.
After firing several rounds at the woman’s home and property, he continued toward other Basin homes where members of the LGBTQ community lived, the documents said. A group of churchgoers who knew Howald stalled him as he fired more rounds and yelled about his hatred of LGBTQ+ people and his determination to “clean” them from his town.
Howald then pointed the rifle at a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy who had responded to the scene, nearly prompting a shootout before fleeing into the hills, the documents said. He was arrested the next day, armed with a loaded pistol and a knife.
Officers found multiple other weapons and ammunition in Howald’s car and camper.
“This defendant sought to intimidate ‒ even terrorize – an entire community by shooting into the victim’s home, trying to kill her for no reason other than her sexual orientation,” said Steven Dettelbach, director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “This defendant did something distinctly un-American by depriving her of her sense of safety, freedom and privacy all at once.”
According to Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Howald had hoped to inspire similar attacks around the country.
Earlier this month, the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest gay rights organization, issued a “state of emergency” after more than 75 anti-LGBTQ bills were signed into law in 2023, more than twice last year’s total.
