Parents of Man Charged in Seattle Shooting Issue Appeal and Apology to Jews

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Mr. Stephenson said that Mr. Haq had suffered from mental illness for about a decade and that he took medication, including lithium, for a bipolar disorder. The shooting “was a result of a mentally ill person,’’ the lawyer said. “It was not a rational act at all.”

Before the shooting, Mr. Haq was facing a charge of lewd conduct for allegedly exposing himself in a shopping mall near his family’s home in Pasco, about 180 miles from Seattle in southeastern Washington. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

Mr. Donohoe said of the claim that Mr. Haq was mentally ill: “I don’t think we’ve received any information about any history, so I don’t think that figures in. I don’t think that would play a role at this point.”

Mian Haq, Mr. Haq’s father, is from Pakistan. He and his wife, Nahida, had been active in the Muslim community around Pasco for three decades, friends said.

Naveed Haq is an American. He graduated in 1998 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., with a degree in biology, according to university records. He attended the University of Pennsylvania’s school of dentistry but dropped out “when his mental illness became a problem,” Mr. Stephenson said.

“He stopped going to classes,’’ the lawyer said. “His moods were all over the place.”

But Mr. Haq later enrolled at Washington State University and earned a second degree, in electrical engineering, in 2004, Mr. Stephenson said. Since then, he had been unable to find a steady job in engineering and had recently worked at a Lowe’s in the Seattle area.

Mr. Stephenson said Mr. Haq’s mother had tried to stop him from going to Seattle last week, but only because she was concerned about him in general and not because she knew of his plans.

“His mother was very good about reading him,’’ he said.

Mr. Stephenson said the Haqs’ letter was being faxed Monday to the federation’s offices in Seattle and to Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, where funeral services were held for Ms. Waechter on Monday. Mian Haq hand-delivered a letter to Congregation Beth Sholom in Richland, he said.

Esther Herst, executive director of Temple B’nai Torah, said the temple had received the letter.

Nancy Geiger, the interim director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, said the rabbi who presided over Ms. Waechter’s funeral said she “died in sanctified service to the Jewish people.”