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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City man faces firearm charges and a civil rights violation after allegedly shooting out windows at the Congregation Kol Ami synagogue last year.
Macon Michael Openshaw, 21, was indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court for carrying a firearm in relation to a violent crime, possession of a firearm with a removed or altered serial number, and carrying a firearm while subject to a protective order.
Openshaw is accused of defacing the Congregation Kol Ami synagogue in east Millcreek between January and April 2012. Investigators say he shot out windows and damaged window frames with a Walther .22-caliber handgun.
The incident is a potential civil rights violation because Openshaw reportedly targeted the synagogue because of its religious identity.
Kol Ami President Liz Page said damage was quickly repaired and congregants were mostly unaffected by the incident.
"We see this as the work of individual and it doesn't represent the values of our broader community or the state of Utah as a whole," Page said. "It's disappointing that a place of worship should ever be the target of this kind of crime."
Openshaw is scheduled to be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
