On Saturday August 7, 1999, Buford Furrow made up his mind to attack a Jewish facility. He headed for the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, but found the visible security to be too daunting. He went to the Skirball Cultural Center where he was again frustrated by the physical security and security guard at the entry. He made another attempt at the nearby University of Judaism, only to be again frustrated at what he felt was a high level of security. His next stop was at the North Valley Jewish Community Center, a small day care facility in the Granada Hills area of Los Angeles with no visible security presence. He had found his mark and began executing his plan of attack.

Furrow was armed with an AR-15 rifle, an Uzi, and several handguns. He walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center carrying the Uzi and opened fire, spraying bullets in a sweeping motion. By the time he ran out the door shortly afterwards, a 68-year-old receptionist, a 16-year-old camp counselor at the day-care and 3 children were wounded. Furrow then hijacked a green Toyota Camry, drove to Chatsworth and spotted Joseph Ileto, a 39 year-old Filipino-American postal employee delivering the daily mail. Furrow got out and asked Ileto to mail a letter, then started firing a Glock 9-mm pistol he had drawn from his pocket. Hit by two shots, Ileto struggled to run away, but Furrow opened fire again, killing him.

Furrow was subsequently apprehended in Las Vegas after he traveled there by taxi. Furrow reportedly stated that his attack was intended as "a wake-up call to America to kill Jews."

Furrow was a white supremacist and an anti-Semite. Although not an Islamic Jihadist, he shared with them a hatred of Jews. He identified cultural properties as a good target for his hatred and cased three separate institutions. This tragic incident demonstrates the importance of “hardening the target” at cultural facilities by utilizing a visible security presence, physical barriers and having well trained personnel. We know that, in nearly every terrorist attack, the aggressor(s) spend a significant amount of time “casing” their prospective target. The best opportunity to we have to deter a potential attack is in this early planning stage. Displaying competent and professional security deterrence is an important step in convincing the aggressors to go elsewhere.