Five families with children who were shot or traumatized in a shooting at a Jewish center in California in 1999 have filed a $15 million claim against Washington state because the shooter was a Washington parolee. The claim, potentially the precursor for a lawsuit, was filed Friday against the state Department of Corrections, which was then responsible for supervising Buford O. Furrow Jr., an avowed white supremacist with a history of mental illness.

Furrow, now 44 and serving a life sentence at the federal prison in Marion, Ill., had been out of prison for three months and was on probation in Washington at the time of the shooting spree Aug. 10, 1999 at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, Calif.

According to the claim, the state agency should have monitored Furrow sufficiently to prevent him from accumulating the weapons he used, failed to obtain his psychiatric records and assess his mental health, and should have given more attention to court records of his close ties to hate groups.

The Furrow claim seeks $3 million for each child – Joshua Stepakoff, now 13, Benjamin Kadish, now 12, and James Zidell, 13, all of whom were hit by gunfire, and Joshua Kadish, 16, and Nathan Powers, 11, who were described as hard-hit psychologically.

“For us to be able to protect our family, we have to depend on our government,” Alan Stepakoff, 53, father of Joshua, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by telephone. “I’m hoping that this will make the government … hold up that trust.”

An agency spokeswoman would not immediately comment on the legal action, saying agency officials had not yet reviewed the claim. The state has 60 days to respond before plaintiffs can file the case as a lawsuit.

Michael E. Withey, a lawyer for the families, said the statute of limitations involving minors in such cases is within three years of when they turn 18.

“By filing this claim … we hope to make sure this never happens again,” Withey said.

Stepakoff said his son needed counseling after being hit by two bullets, one barely missing his spine and the other tearing through his leg. The sound of helicopters, a reminder of the police response, would reduce him to tears. Entering eighth grade, he writes often about the experience for class assignments.

“It’s hard to know what kind of kid he would be like today or what our family would be like if we hadn’t had these events,” Stepakoff said.

A lawsuit filed by victims against the manufacturers of the guns Furrow used was dismissed last year under legislation passed by Congress to exempt gun makers from liability in firearms-related crimes. The lead plaintiff was Lilian Ileto, the mother of Joseph Ileto, a postal worker Furrow fatally shot shortly after leaving the Jewish center.

Before the shootings, Furrow had served eight months in prison, as well as time in a mental hospital, after he threatened a mental health worker with a knife. He had no prior criminal convictions.

He told police he was a white supremacist who had been experiencing homicidal thoughts but was classified by prison officials as a moderate risk requiring midlevel supervision when he was released, records show.

In the wake of the shootings, then-Corrections Secretary Joseph Lehman said in a department memorandum and in an interview with the CBS Television show “60 Minutes” that an internal investigation showed warning signs that should have alerted Furrow’s probation officer, Patrick Gosney.

“We were not aware of the extent of Furrow’s involvement with hate groups,” Lehman said.

Had department officials taken Furrow’s white supremacy ties into consideration, he would have been classified as a maximum risk, according to the recently filed claim.

A department report quoted Gosney as saying he knew of Furrow’s white supremacist orientation but not that he was involved with the Aryan Nations or any other specific group.

Withey said such evidence was readily at hand.

“Not only were there red flags, they were in their own files,” the lawyer said. “It’s like being told that Washington state allows its community corrections officers to be bamboozled by neo-Nazi, gun-toting nuts.”

For example, Withey said, one of the mental health workers whom Furrow attacked told a corrections officer for a presentencing report that Furrow’s wallet contained an Aryan Nations membership card and other white supremacist material.

Furrow also was briefly married to Debra Mathews, the widow of Robert Jay Mathews, founder of the neo-Nazi group The Order, a violent offshoot of the Aryan nations. Robert Mathews died in a gunfight with federal agents on Whidbey Island in 1984.

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