Police are looking for the woman who shot the co-founder of a commune in Staten Island Monday night. Jeffrey Gross was shot three times outside one of the homes belonging to Ganas on Corson Avenue, but managed to say that Rebekah Johnson, a former commune member who was kicked out. Well, the Daily News says police did find target practice silhouettes in her apartment. Johnson had sued Ganas for $3 million, saying she was kicked out of the group for "refusing to have a lesbian relationship." Johnson was also arrested for harrassing Gross and accusing the group of rape and forcing marriages (which have not been substantiated). While members deny it's a cult, it apparently has extensive real estate holdings and pretty flexible living arrangements.
The papers make sure to mention that on Monday night Gross had been coming home after seeing An Inconvenient Truth (hippies love the Earth!). And according to the Ganas website, the group is "an experiment in open dialogue that is based on full disclosure committed to focusing attention, hearing, and responding to everything disclosed with intent to resolve whatever conflicts emerge." Not only that, but single rooms are $710 and double rooms (where the room is shared with another person) are $510.
