Spree killer
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A spree killer, also known as a rampage killer, is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on his or her victims (two or more) in a short time in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders."[1] According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the general definition of spree murder is two or more murders committed by an offender or offenders, without a cooling-off period; the lack of a cooling-off period marking the difference between a spree murder and a serial murder. The category has however been found to be of no real value to law enforcement, because of definitional problems relating to the concept of a "cooling-off period".[2] Serial killers are different in that the murders are clearly separate events, happening at different times, while the attacks of mass murderers are defined by one incident, with no distinctive time period between the murders.[2]
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[edit] Notably large spree killings
Notably large spree killings in history include:
- Tsuyama massacre (Japan, 1938): Mutsuo Toi, using an old Japanese rifle and swords, killed 30[3] and then himself in an hour and a half.
- University of Texas massacre (United States, 1966): Charles Whitman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin killed 14 people and wounded 31 others as part of a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the University's 32-story administrative building. He did this shortly after murdering his wife and mother. He was eventually shot and killed by an Austin police officer.
- Binghamton shootings (United States, 2009): Jiverly Antares Wong, Entered the American Civic Association and using two handguns killed 13 people, and wounded 4 others in a in a matter of minutes before killing himself.
- Uireyeong massacre (South Korea, 1982): Woo Bum-kon killed 57 and then himself in eight hours, using grenades and an M1 Carbine. 35 people were also wounded.
- Hungerford massacre (United Kingdom, 1987): Michael Robert Ryan, using two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, killed 16 people and wounded 15 others in a space of 7 hours before shooting himself.
- Gang Lu shootings (Iowa City, 1991): Gang Lu, a graduate student in physics at the University of Iowa used a handgun to kill five people, seriously wound a sixth, and kill himself.
- Aramoana Massacre (New Zealand, 1990): David Gray, using a Norinco Type 56-1S .223 semi-automatic rifle killed 13 people on 13 November. He was shot and killed by police the following day after a 22-hour standoff.
- Tian Mingjian incident (China, 1994): Tian Mingjian, using a type 81 rifle killed 23 people near Tiananmen Square on September 20, including an Iranian diplomat and his son. He was finally shot dead by a police sniper.
- Port Arthur massacre (Australia, 1996): Martin Bryant, using an AR-15 and an L1A1 SLR, killed 35 and injured 19 in five hours before being arrested by the Special Operations Group of the Tasmanian Police.
- Dunblane massacre (United Kingdom, 1996): Thomas Hamilton, using two 9 mm Browning HP pistols and two Smith & Wesson .357 magnum revolvers, fired 109 times killed 17 people and injured 15 people on 13 March, before shooting himself.
- Columbine High School Massacre (United States, 1999): Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, using a Hi-Point carbine and a TEC-DC9, killed 12 students and one teacher and injured 24 in one hour before committing suicide
- Red Lake High School massacre (United States, 2005): Jeff Weise. Shot and killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend, both police officers. He then proceeded to a local high school and shot and killed a security guard. Once inside the school Weise shot and killed five students and a teacher before committing suicide. Weise killed 9 and injured 15.
- Virginia Tech massacre (United States, 2007): Seung-Hui Cho, using two pistols, killed 32 in two separate events and then himself in the course of about three hours.
- Dnepropetrovsk maniacs (Ukraine, 2007): an unusual group murder spree. Viktor Sayenko, Alexander Hanzha and Igor Suprunyuck, all 19, went on several murder sprees, claiming 21 victims in one month and videotaping most murders. Two victims were murdered within minutes of each other on June 25; two more on July 1st, three on July 7th, and two each on the 14th, 15th and 16th July, 2007.
- Jokela school shooting (Finland, 2007): 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen, fatally shot eight people with a semi-automatic pistol, before shooting himself in the head. The morning of the incident, Auvinen posted a video on YouTube announcing the massacre at the school.
- Akihabara massacre (Japan, 2008): Tomohiro Kato hit five pedestrians with a truck, then stabbed twelve people. Kato killed 7 and injured 10.
- Kauhajoki school shooting (Finland, 2008): 22-year-old culinary arts student Matti Juhani Saari, shot and killed 10 people with a semi-automatic pistol, before shooting himself in the head. The incident was the second school shooting in less than a year in Finland. Before that, only one other school shooting had taken place in the country's history.
- Geneva County massacre (United States, 2009): Michael McLendon using SKS rifle, Bushmaster AR-15, and .38-caliber handgun killed 10 on 10 March and before shooting himself.
- Winnenden school massacre (Germany, 2009): 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer using a handgun killed 15 on March 11 before shooting himself.
[edit] See also
- Mass murder
- Going postal
- Running amok
- Thrill killing
- List of mass murderers and spree killers by number of victims
[edit] References
- ^ Charalambous, Nick, and Meryl Dillman. "No evidence of spree killer yet, police say". The Anderson Independent-Mail (Anderson, South Carolina), December 17, 2006. Accessed 8 July 2008.
- ^ a b Morton, Robert J., and Mark A. Hilts (eds.) Serial Murder — Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Accessed 4 July 2009.
- ^ 津山三十人殺し―日本犯罪史上空前の惨劇 (Akira Tsukuba, 2001) ISBN 4102901280.
[edit] Further reading
- Pan Pantziarka 2000, Lone Wolf: True Stories of Spree Killers , Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0437-5.
- WhyFiles.org - 2009 feature on rampage murder informed by interviews with multiple psychologists and criminologists.
