( CNN ) -- A gunman opened fire at two Jewish facilities near Kansas City on Sunday , killing three people , police said . Authorities are investigating whether the shootings were a hate crime , Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass told reporters . `` It 's too early in the investigation to try to label it . We know it 's a vicious act of violence . Obviously , at two Jewish facilities , one might make that assumption , but we 're going to have to know more about it , '' he said . Suspect Frazier Glenn Cross faces charges of premeditated first-degree murder . He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday , Lt. Craig Buckendahl from the Johnson County Sheriff 's Office said . Video from CNN affiliate KMBC showed a man who appeared to be the suspect sitting in the back of a patrol car and shouting , `` Heil Hitler . '' Douglass said police are investigating statements the suspect made after his arrest , but declined to provide additional details . Investigators believe the suspect is affiliated with white-supremacist groups and was involved in previous incidents , such as threats , two federal law enforcement officials told CNN . The Southern Poverty Law Center , which tracks hate groups , described Cross as a longtime , `` raging anti-Semite '' who has posted extensively in an online forum that advocates exterminating Jews . The shootings occurred at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park , Kansas , and at the Village Shalom Retirement Community in Leawood , Kansas . Authorities arrested the suspect at a nearby elementary school after the shootings , Douglass said . The suspected shooter is not from Kansas and did not appear to know his victims , he said . A shotgun was involved in the shootings , Douglass said . Authorities are investigating whether other weapons were also involved . The gunman shot at a total of five people , Douglass said , but two of them were not injured . The FBI is at the scene working with local authorities , FBI spokesman Joel Sealer said . Rabbi Herbert Mandl , a chaplain for the Overland Park Police Department , said the victims included a teenager and an elderly woman . The shootings , which occurred the day before Passover begins , sound `` very much like a hate crime , '' he said . `` The timing is terrible . The timing is awful , '' Mandl said . `` From what I understand from my contacts , this is a one-person event , and this is hopefully under control now . '' The shooting began just after 1 p.m. on Sunday , when gunfire erupted in the Jewish community center 's parking lot . The center was packed with young people participating in weekend activities , like auditions for a singing competition and a rehearsal for a production of `` To Kill a Mockingbird , '' CNN affiliates reported . `` This was a community center full of young teens , and they were on lockdown after the shots started , '' CNN affiliate KSHB reporter Lisa Benson told CNN . `` Some of these kids were taken into locker rooms and told to lay on the floor as the shots rang out . '' Jeff Nessel told the Kansas City Star he had just dropped his 10-year-old son off at the community center when a staff member told him to get back inside because there had been a shooting . `` We 'll keep you on lockdown . You 're safe here , '' Nessel said a staff member told him . `` It 's surreal , '' Nessel told the newspaper . `` You do n't think it can happen here . '' At the nearby Village Shalom retirement home , Amy Rasmussen was helping with her grandmother 's laundry when residents were warned by a staff member . People `` were told by one of the staff that it was a tornado warning ... and stay away from the windows , '' Rasmussen told the newspaper . As word of the shooting spread , concerned friends and family came to the facility to check on their loved ones , KSHB reported . The victims . Two of the victims were a grandfather and grandson who were members of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood , a U.S. congressman said . Rep. Kevin Yoder told CNN the church 's minister announced the news during services Sunday night . `` This has been a moment that stunned us all , '' Yoder said . Family members said Dr. William Lewis Corporon and 14-year-old Reat Griffin Underwood died as a result of injuries they suffered in the shooting at the Jewish community center . Corporon `` cherished his family , and more than anything had a passion for caring for others . '' Reat was high school freshman who `` participated in debate , theater and had a beautiful voice . Reat had a passion for life , and touched so many people in his young age , '' his family said . U.S. President Barack Obama offered condolences to the victims of shootings and their families . `` I have asked my team to stay in close touch with our federal , state and local partners and provide the necessary resources to support the ongoing investigation , '' he said in a statement released by the White House . `` While we do not know all of the details surrounding today 's shooting , the initial reports are heartbreaking . '' Shooter 's motive unclear . The Anti-Defamation League described the shootings as `` an unspeakable and heinous act of violence . '' `` While it is too early to label these shootings as a hate crime , the fact that two Jewish institutions were targeted by the same individual just prior to the start of the Passover holiday is deeply troubling and certainly gives us pause , '' the organization said . `` We have reached out to local , state and federal law enforcement and stand willing and able to offer guidance and assistance to the community if this incident turns out to have been motivated by anti-Semitism . '' The ADL said it warned last week of the increased possibility of violent attacks against community centers during the coming weeks , `` which coincide both with the Passover holiday and Hitler 's birthday on April 20 , a day around which in the United States has historically been marked by extremist acts of violence and terrorism . '' CNN 's Nick Valencia , Janet DiGiacomo , Evan Perez , Shimon Prokupecz and Don Lemon contributed to this report .
NEW : Suspect Frazier Glenn Cross faces charges of premeditated murder . NEW YORK DAILY NEWS