The man accused of killing three people at Jewish-related sites in Kansas is a well-known white supremacist, prison officials revealed today.

Frazier Glenn Cross was arrested on a preliminary charge of first-degree murder following the attacks on Sunday.

The 73-year-old has twice run for Congress on a white power platform as Glenn Miller.

He sparked a nationwide manhunt in 1987 after violating his bond while appealing against a conviction for operating a paramilitary camp and was found holed up with three other men in a caravan filled with hand grenades, automatic weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Police said a gunman opened fire on Sunday on two people in a car park behind a Jewish community centre before driving to a Jewish retirement village and shooting a woman there.

Officers said it was too early to determine if the attack was a hate crime, though it did come a day before the Jewish festival Passover.