Spree killer

A spree killer is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on two or more victims 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."

Definition

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". 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.

Another term, rampage killer, has sometimes been used to describe spree killers, but it does not differentiate between mass murderers and spree killers.

List of spree killings

Incident	Location	Year	Killer	Victims killed	Notes
Wagner killings	Germany	1913	Ernst August Wagner	14	Wagner killed his wife and four children before launching a gun and arson attack in Mühlhausen an der Enz which killed nine. He was sent to an asylum and died in 1938.
Tsuyama massacre	Japan	1938	Mutsuo Toi	30	Using a shotgun and swords, Toi killed 30 in an hour and a half before killing himself.
The Walk of Death	United States	1949	Howard Unruh	13	28-year-old Unruh killed 13 people in Camden, New Jersey with a Luger P08 pistol, the worst mass murder in the United States at the time. Unruh was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was detained without trial until his death in 2009.
Cook killings	United States	1951	Billy Cook	6	Cook murdered six people between Missouri and California on a 22-day rampage before being arrested in Mexico. He was executed at San Quentin State Prison on 22 December 1952.
Starkweather/Fugate murders	United States	1958	Charles Starkweather & Caril Ann Fugate	11	Starkweather and his adolescent girlfriend Fugate murdered 10 people over the course of eight days before being apprehended by police. Starkweather was executed at Nebraska State Penitentiary in 1959. Fugate was imprisoned until 1976.
University of Texas at Austin massacre	United States	1966	Charles Whitman	14	Whitman, a university student, murdered his wife and his mother, then killed 14 people and wounded 31 others, shooting from the observation deck of an administrative building. He was shot and killed by an Austin police officer.
Colorado Springs killings	United States	1975	Freddie Lee Glenn	5	Glenn and accomplice Michael Corbett were convicted of murdering three people in or near Colorado Springs in 1975. One notable victim was Karen Grammer, 18, younger sister of actor Kelsey Grammer.
Coastal Road massacre	Israel	1978	Eleven Palestinian assailants	38	Attack involving the hijack of a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway in which 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed, and 71 were wounded.
Uiryeong massacre	South Korea	1982	Woo Bum-kon	57	Woo, a 27-year-old disgruntled police officer, killed 57 and wounded 35 people using two M2 carbines and hand grenades in an eight-hour rampage before committing suicide.
Massacre at bar 't Koetsiertje	Netherlands	1983	Cevdet Yılmaz	6	The Dutch-Turkish Cevdet Yilmaz (nicknamed Ted the Turk) shot and killed 6 patrons of the bar 't Koetsiertje in Delft after one of the patrons insulted him because of his ethnic background. Yilmaz was the first gun-wielding Dutch spree killer.
Springfield Mall massacre	United States	1985	Sylvia Seegrist	3	Sylvia Seegrist killed 3 and wounded 7 on a shooting rampage at the mall in Springfield, Pennsylvania before being disarmed by a shopper and arrested by police. She is currently incarcerated.
Edmond United States Post Office massacre	United States	1986	Patrick Sherrill	14	Patrick Sherrill, a United States Postal Service employee, shot and killed 14 people at his workplace in Edmond, Oklahoma after being reprimanded by his supervisors before killing himself.
Pozzetto Massacre	Colombia	1986	Campo Elías Delgado	30	Campo Elías Delgado, a Colombian Vietnam War veteran, killed nine people in his apartment block, including his mother; then killed 21 people with a .32 revolver at the restaurant "Pozzeto" before being shot and killed by the Colombian police.
Hoddle Street massacre	Australia	1987	Julian Knight	7	Knight murdered 7 people and injured 19 during a shooting spree in Clifton Hill, Victoria.
Hungerford massacre	United Kingdom	1987	Michael Robert Ryan	16	Using two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, Ryan killed 16 people and wounded 15 others in a space of 7 hours before shooting himself.
Dover massacre	United States	1987	Ronald Gene Simmons	16	Simmons murdered 14 family members over a week long period in December 1987 before driving to his workplace in Russellville, Arkansas and fatally shooting two co-workers. Executed by lethal injection in 1990.
Luxiol shooting spree	France	1989	Christian Dornier	14	Dornier shot dead his sister and mother, and killed 12 others in Luxiol, France. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Standard Gravure shooting	United States	1989	Joseph Wesbecker	8	On September 14, 1989, Wesbecker, a pressman at Standard Gravure in Louisville, Kentucky who was under treatment for depression, entered his former workplace armed with a rifle and four pistols, killed eight people and injured 12 others before killing himself.
Aramoana massacre	New Zealand	1990	David Gray	13	Gray ran riot with a rifle through the Otago seaside village of Aramoana. He was shot dead by the Special Tactics Group around 34 hours after the incident began.
Luby's massacre	United States	1991	George Hennard	23	Hennard, 35, drove his pickup truck through the window of Luby's Cafeteria and proceeded to fatally shoot 23 people before turning the gun on himself as police arrived.
Falun killings	Sweden	1994	Mattias Flink	7	Flink, a fänrik in the Swedish Army, shot and killed seven people, including five fellow female soldiers, with his AK5 assault rifle, in a park in Downtown Falun, near his regiment. An eighth victim was also shot, but survived. Flink was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre	Hebron, West Bank	1994	Baruch Goldstein	29	Goldstein used an IMI Galil assault rifle to kill 29 Palestinians at a place of worship in Hebron. He was beaten to death after being overpowered by a crowd.
Tian Mingjian incident	China	1994	Tian Mingjian	23	Using a Type 81 rifle, Tian killed 23 people near Jianguomen on 20 September, including an Iranian diplomat and his son. He was finally shot dead by a police sniper.
Cuers shooting spree	France	1995	Eric Borel	15	After murdering his mother, stepfather, and half-brother the previous day, 16-year-old Borel went on a shooting spree in Cuers shooting dead an additional 12 people before he killed himself.
Dunblane massacre	United Kingdom	1996	Thomas Hamilton	17	The Dunblane school massacre resulted in many deaths in a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland and resulted in a handgun ban in the United Kingdom.
Port Arthur massacre	Australia	1996	Martin Bryant	35	Using an AR-15 and an L1A1 SLR, Bryant killed 35 and injured 21 in five hours before being arrested by the Special Operations Group of the Tasmanian Police.
Columbine High School massacre	United States	1999	Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold	13	Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both armed with shotguns and semi-automatic weapons, arrived at Columbine High School on the afternoon of April 20, 1999 and fatally shot twelve classmates and one teacher before committing suicide.
Zug massacre	Switzerland	2001	Friedrich Leibacher	15	Friedrich Leibacher shot and killed 14 people at the Parliament in Zug before killing himself.
Mdantsane massacre	South Africa	2002	Bulelani Vukwana	11	Vukwana, 29, killed 11 people and injured 6 in the South African township of Mdantsane after an argument with his girlfriend.
Matzuva attack	Israel	2002	Two Palestinian militants	6	Two Islamic Jihad terrorists whom infiltrated to Israel from Lebanon fired small arms and threw hand grenades at vehicles traveling on the Shlomi-Matzuva road, killing six Israelis and injuring one.
Erfurt school shooting	Germany	2002	Robert Steinhäuser	16	Robert Steinhäuser, 19, used a Glock 17 to kill 16 people at Gutenberg secondary school half a year after being expelled, and then shot himself.
Itamar attack	Itamar, West Bank	2002	Two Palestinian militants	5	Palestinian militants broke into a civilian house in the Israeli settlement of Itamar, killing the Shabo family, murdering a mother and her three sons, while injuring two children. Later on the militants also killed the commander of the rescue squad during his attempt to free civilians trapped in the house.
Beltway sniper attacks	United States	2002	John Allen Muhammad & Lee Boyd Malvo	10	Muhammad and 17-year old Malvo killed 10 and injured several others over the course of three weeks. Muhammad, who was 41, was executed 10 November 2009. Malvo is currently serving six consecutive life sentences.
Beit She'an attack	Israel	2002	Two Palestinian militants	6	Shooting carried out by a squad of Palestinian militants on the Israeli city of Beit She'an. During the attack the Palestinian militants opened fire and threw grenades at the Likud polling station in the city, where party members were casting their votes in the Likud primary.
Red Lake massacre	United States	2005	Jeff Weise	9	Weise shot and killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend, both police officers. He then proceeded to a local high school and fatally shot a security guard, five students, and a teacher, injured 15 others, then committed suicide.
Virginia Tech massacre	United States	2007	Seung-Hui Cho	32	Cho, using two pistols, killed 32 in two separate events and then himself in the course of about three hours.
Jokela school shooting	Finland	2007	Pekka-Eric Auvinen	8	Auvinen, an 18-year-old high school student, killed eight people with a semi-automatic pistol before shooting himself in the head.
Mercaz HaRav massacre	Israel	2008	Alaa Abu Dhein	8	A lone Palestinian gunman shot multiple students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, a religious school in Jerusalem, after which the gunman himself was shot dead.
Kauhajoki school shooting	Finland	2008	Matti Juhani Saari	10	Saari, a 22-year-old culinary arts student, killed ten people with a semi-automatic pistol before shooting himself in the head.
Geneva County massacre	United States	2009	Michael McLendon	10	McLendon, a 28-year-old unemployed man, used an SKS rifle, a Bushmaster AR-15 and a .38-caliber handgun to kill 10 people before shooting himself.
Winnenden school shooting	Germany	2009	Tim Kretschmer	15	Kretschmer, a 17-year-old former student, used a Beretta 92FS to kill 15 people in two separate locations before shooting himself.
2009 attack on the Dutch Royal Family	Netherlands	2009	Karst Tates	7	A 38-year-old man drove his car at high speed into a parade which included Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem-Alexander and other members of the Dutch Royal Family, killing 7 spectators and participants as well as himself.
Sello mall shooting	Finland	2009	Ibrahim Shkupolli	5	On 31 December 2009, 43-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli stabbed and killed his ex-girlfriend in her apartment before moving on to the Sello mall where he shot and killed four people; his ex-girlfriend's new lover was believed to be among the victims. Shkupolli was later found dead in his apartment of an apparent suicide.
2010 Appomattox shootings	United States	2010	Christopher Speight	8	Speight killed eight people in three locations in Appomattox, Virginia with a high-powered rifle over the course of several hours before surrendering to police.
Cumbria shootings	United Kingdom	2010	Derrick Bird	12	Bird, a 52-year-old taxi driver, shot dead 12 people in several towns and villages in west Cumbria. He also injured 11 others in a four-hour rampage. Bird took his life with his own gun.
2010 Bratislava shooting	Slovakia	2010	Ľubomír Harman	8	Eight people (including the perpetrator) died and 17 were injured after a gunman opened fire armed with a Vz. 58 assault rifle in a suburb of Bratislava, Slovakia. Harman is the first gun-wielding Slovak spree killer.
2011 Alphen aan den Rijn shopping mall shooting	Netherlands	2011	Tristan van der Vlis	6	Six people were killed by a gunman who then committed suicide and 17 were injured in a shopping mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands.
2011 Grand Rapids, Michigan shooting	United States	2011	Rodrick Dantzler	8	Seven people killed in two separate homes and two persons injured by firearms, suspect later killed himself after holding three people hostage in a home.
2011 Norway attacks	Norway	2011	Anders Behring Breivik	77	On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb outside of a government building in Oslo. Two hours later, dressed in a police uniform, he opened fire at a summer camp on the island of Utøya, killing 69 people, mostly teenagers. When police arrived, Brevik surrendered without resistance.
2011 Copley Township, Ohio shooting	United States	2011	Michael Hance	7	Armed with a Hi-Point .45 ACP and a .357 magnum revolver, Hance went on a shooting spree. He first wounded his girlfriend, then he killed seven people before being shot and killed by police.

See also

• Mass murder
• Going postal
• Running amok
• Thrill killing
• Active shooter
• List of rampage killers
• List of murderers by number of victims

Further reading

• Pantziarka, Pan (2000). Lone Wolf: True Stories of Spree Killers. Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0437-5.