The black man accused of a hate-fueled killing spree that left three white people dead in Fresno, California, admitted the crimes on Saturday and described them as acts of vengeance against white supremacy.
In an interview with NBC affiliate KSEE, Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, also admitted to the April 13 killing of a security guard at a Motel 6. Muhammad told the station that the guard, Carl Williams, 25, was disrespecting a friend, so he shot him, then fled. When Muhammad learned that he was being sought in Williams’ death, he considered surrendering, the station reported.
“I was actually going to turn myself in,” he told the station. “Then I started thinking about the missing black women and children, started thinking about Flint, Michigan, started thinking about the crack cocaine epidemic, started thinking about the injustices and atrocities my people go through. That’s why I snapped.” He added: “I wasn’t thinking like, I’m going to kill, kill, kill. … White supremacy has to die, and people who benefit from white supremacy are white men.”
Muhammad is accused of firing 17 shots in less than one minute near Catholic Charities on Tuesday, killing Pacific Gas and Electric worker Zackary David Randalls, 34, and two Catholic Charities clients: Mark James Gassett, 37, and David Martin Jackson, 58. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said last week that Muhammad, who laughed during interviews with authorities, carried out the killings because he felt that white people kept black people down.
