Joseph Santos JoJo Ileto, a 39-year-old Filipino American postal worker, was murdered on August 10, 1999, in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. He was on his mail route when Buford O. Furrow, an avowed white supremacist who earlier that day had carried out a shooting spree at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, approached him. Furrow asked Ileto to mail a letter and, as Ileto turned to comply, shot him multiple times, targeting him because he was a minority and a federal employee.

Furrow fled the scene and went to Las Vegas, where he turned himself in the following day and confessed to both the community center shootings and Ileto’s murder. Furrow was later charged with multiple counts, including murder and attempted murder; he pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The killing was prosecuted and described as a hate crime motivated by racist and anti-government beliefs.

The family and advocacy groups later established the Joseph Ileto Hate Crimes Prevention Fellowship and pushed for greater attention to hate-fueled violence.