Montana man sentenced to 18 years for targeting LGBTQ+ community in shooting plot.
A Montana man, John Russell Howald, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for targeting LGBTQ+ people and attempting to carry out a mass shooting in March 2020. Howald armed himself with multiple firearms and shot at a woman's house, intending to "clean" the town of Basin, Montana, of gay and lesbian people. He was convicted of a hate crime involving an attempt to kill and of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. Howald's sentencing comes amid intensified targeting of LGBTQ+ Americans in recent years.