Richard Scott Baumhammers was born on May 17, 1965, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the second child of Andrejs and Inese Baumhammers, who were both Lutheran immigrants from Latvia. They fled their homeland due to the Soviet occupation. His parents became faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Dental Medicine and opened a successful dental practice near the university. Richard had an older sister named Daina, who was born in 1963. The family settled in the suburb of Mt. Lebanon.

In school, Richard Baumhammers played as a second-string kicker on the Mt. Lebanon High School football team. He graduated from high school in 1983 and then attended Kent State University in Ohio, where he earned his degree in 1989. After college, he began studying law at Cumberland Law School in Birmingham, Alabama. A classmate described him as friendly, a good student, and in the top third of his class.

After finishing law school, Richard continued his education in California. He enrolled in a one-year international program at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. There, he received a master's degree in transnational business practice and focused on immigration law and international law. In the mid-1990s, he lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and was a member of the International Law Section of the Georgia Bar Association.

Richard faced emotional challenges in his life. In the late 1990s, he returned to Pittsburgh and lived with his parents. He had been treated for mental illness since 1993 and had voluntarily admitted himself to a psychiatric ward at least twice. Richard became concerned about his appearance, thinking that his skin was damaged by the sun, although dermatologists had determined it was normal. His father noted that he had seen signs of mental illness when Richard was just four years old.

In 1993, Richard traveled to Europe. His emotional state alarmed his father when he returned home. Richard shared that during his travels, he felt euphoric in Ukraine but experienced paranoia in Finland. He believed people were following him and that the FBI was monitoring his family's home. He even insisted that he and his parents should communicate only in the basement using a pen and notepad.

Richard admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh, where he was diagnosed with a delusional disorder. Over the years, he consulted with several mental health professionals and tried many different medications. After his release, he continued living with his parents.

In 1997, Richard traveled to Latvia. He lived in an apartment near where his grandparents had lived before the Soviet occupation. While there, he acquired Latvian citizenship and tried to reclaim properties that had been lost. However, he was too late to file the necessary claims. People he met in Latvia described him as quiet and awkward in social situations, but they did not remember him as violent or expressing racist ideas.

In the fall of 1999, Richard was arrested in Paris for striking a bartender whom he believed was Jewish. He later told the police that he was "mentally ill" and was taken for evaluation. After this incident, he returned to the United States and eventually purchased a revolver in April 2000.

On April 28, 2000, Richard Baumhammers began his killing spree at 1:30 p.m. He walked to the home of his neighbor, Anita "Nicki" Gordon, who was 63 years old. He shot her and then set her house on fire. After this, Baumhammers got into his black Jeep Cherokee and drove to the Beth El Congregation in Scott Township, where he shot at the synagogue's windows. He exited his vehicle and spray-painted two red swastikas on the building.

Baumhammers then drove to a nearby store called India Grocer. There, he shot and killed Anil Thakur, a 31-year-old man who was shopping during his lunch break. He also shot store manager Sandeep Patel, injuring him and causing paralysis. Patel would later die in 2007 from complications related to his injuries.

Next, Baumhammers traveled to the Ahavath Achim Congregation in Carnegie. He broke the glass windows of the synagogue with gunfire. Continuing his spree, he went to Ya Fei Chinese Cuisine in Robinson Town Centre. In front of customers, he shot and killed Ji-ye Sun, a 34-year-old restaurant manager, and Thao "Tony" Pham, a 27-year-old chef.

The final stop in his killing spree was the C.S. Kim School of Karate in Center Township, Beaver County. There, he shot and killed Garry Lee, a 22-year-old man who was working out with a friend.

Baumhammers was arrested shortly after his spree. He was pulled over while driving his Jeep at around 3:30 p.m. It took about two hours for his rampage to unfold, covering a distance of 15 miles across two counties. Following his arrest, police searched his home and found a manifesto that expressed his beliefs and hostility towards minorities and immigrants.

On May 1, 2000, Baumhammers was charged with 19 crimes, including five counts of homicide, attempted homicide, and ethnic intimidation. After being deemed unfit for trial due to his mental health, he underwent psychiatric treatment for over three months. A jury later found him guilty of all charges, and they requested the death penalty for him.

Baumhammers was sentenced to death and was held at Greene State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania. His execution was initially scheduled for March 18, 2010, but a judge granted him an indefinite stay. In November 2019, he lost an appeal against his conviction and death sentence.