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

 This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (October 2009)

Notably large spree killings include:

United States

  • Starkweather/Fugate murders (United States, 1958): Charles Starkweather and his adolescent girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate murdered eleven people over the course of eight days before being apprehended by police. Starkweather was executed in 1959 and Fugate was imprisoned until 1976.
  • University of Texas at Austin 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.
  • Red Lake 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.

Canada

United Kingdom

Germany

  • Cologne school massacre (Germany, 1964): On the day of his 42nd birthday, Walter Seifert entered a primary school in Volkhoven, Cologne armed with a flamethrower, lance, and homemade mace. After murdering 11 people and injuring twice as many, Seifert was taken into police custody where he died the next morning from a poisonous insecticide ingested after the killings[3].
  • Erfurt massacre (Germany, 2002): Robert Steinhäuser changed into a ninja outfit and armed with 9mm Glock 17 pistol and a pump action shotgun, went to the school from which he'd recently been expelled, killed sixteen people; comprising 13 faculty members, 2 students, and one police officer, before committing suicide.
  • Winnenden school shooting (Germany, 2009): 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer, using a Beretta 92FS, killed 15 on March 11 in two separate locations before shooting himself. Among the victims were mostly female classmates and pedestrians.

Finland

  • 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.
  • 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.

Ukraine

  • 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 1, three on July 7, and two each on the 14th, 15 and 16 July, 2007.

Australia

  • Strathfield massacre (Australia, 1991): Wade Frankum murdered seven and injured six more using a knife and SKS rifle at a Sydney, Australia shopping centre before commiting suicide.

New Zealand

Japan

South Korea

China

[edit] Similar events

Mass murders that are widely accepted as spree killings include:

  • San Ysidro McDonald's massacre (United States, 1984): James Oliver Huberty opened fire at a McDonald's in San Ysidro with an Uzi, 12-gauge Remington pump-action shotgun, and a 9mm Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol. In the ensuing chaos, 21 people were murdered by Huberty, and many others injured. The massacre ended when a SWAT sniper perched on a building across the street shot Huberty through the heart.
  • Edmond U.S. Post Office massacre (United States, 1986): Patrick Sherrill, a recently fired postman, used two .45 caliber semi-automatic pistols and a .22 caliber revolver to murder 14 co-workers before turning one of the guns on himself.
  • Westside Middle School massacre (United States, 1998): 13-year old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year old Andrew Golden opened fire on students evacuating Westside Middle School from a forest adjacent to the school, killing 5 and injuring countless others. As they were about to make their escape, the pair were apprehended by police and confined until their 21st birthdays. Arguably one of the most notorious pre-Columbine school massacres on U.S. soil.
  • Mercaz HaRav massacre (Israel, 2008): Alaa Abu Dhein, 26, fired as many as 500-600 rounds from his AK-47 at students attending the Mercaz HaRav religious school, killing 8, before being shot dead.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ http://www.ursula-kuhr-schule.de/Chronik/Attentat/Attentat.html
  4. ^ 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.
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