Many activist groups, such as Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Showing Up for Racial Justice, met with local politicians to urge that Bush be charged with a hate crime. They expressed concern that he might escape justice by using mental illness as a defense. As one member told officials, "Mental illness does not prompt you to wake up wanting to kill black people. Mental illness does not discriminate as this man did." According to CNN, the event was one of three hate-motivated events that took place in the United States the same week, along with a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a series of mail bombing attempts.