Montana man sentenced to 18 years for targeting LGBTQ community

John Russell Howald has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for a hate crime and firearms charges after threatening a woman with homophobic slurs and shooting at her house with an assault rifle as part of a self-described "mission" to rid a small town of its LGBTQ community. Howald had hoped his planned shooting would inspire similar attacks around the country. He was armed with multiple weapons and ammunition and nearly started a shootout with a sheriff's deputy. Howald had been convicted on a state charge of criminal endangerment stemming from the shooting in Basin and is serving a 10-year sentence in the Montana State Prison.