Montana man sentenced to 18 years in prison for shooting at and threatening LGBTQ residents

A Montana man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after his conviction of a federal hate crime and firearm charges related to a “self-described mission to rid the town of Basin of its lesbian, queer and gay community,” officials said. John Russell Howald was convicted in February for firing an AK-style rifle at the home of a woman who openly identified as a lesbian, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. The woman was inside the home during the March 2020 incident.