Spree killer
Encyclopedia : S : SP : SPR : Spree killer
A spree killer is someone who embarks on a murderous rampage. This is a slightly ambiguous term, with similarities to mass murderer and serial killer.
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." Serial killers are different in that they have gaps between attacks, while mass murderers typically stick to one location.
The worst spree killing was committed by Woo Bum-Kon when he killed 57 and then himself. After that, the second and third deadliest examples would be Martin Bryant (Port Arthur massacre, 1996) and Mutsuo Toi (Tsuyama massacre, 1938).
One form of spree killing that garners particularly large amounts of media attention are those that occur in school killings, such as the Columbine High School massacre—the shooting of 12 students and one teacher in a then record-breaking school shooting. Robert Steinhauser later killed a greater number of people in the Erfurt massacre—13 teachers, 2 students, a policeman, and then himself. Jeff Weise followed this with the deaths of 10, including himself, in the Red Lake High School massacre.
Spree killers
Notable spree killers include:- Mutsuo Toi (the Tsuyama massacre, 1938)
- Howard Unruh (1949)
- Charles Starkweather (1958)
- Woo Bum-Kon (1982)
- James Oliver Huberty (1984)
- Michael Robert Ryan (the Hungerford massacre, 1987)
- Marc Lépine (the École Polytechnique massacre, 1989)
- Joseph Wesbecker (1989)
- David Gray (the Aramoana massacre, 1990)
- George Hennard (the Luby's Massacre, 1991)
- Thomas Hamilton (the Dunblane massacre, 1996)
- Martin Bryant (the Port Arthur massacre, 1996)
- Andrew Cunanan (1997)
- Carl Drega (1997)
- Mark O. Barton (1999)
- Benjamin Nathaniel Smith (1999)
- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine High School massacre, 1999)
- Nikolay Soltys (2001)
- Friedrich Leibacher (2001)
- Jean-Pierre Roux-Durraffourt, streets of Tours, Indre-et-Loire, (2001)
- Robert Steinhäuser (the Erfurt massacre, 2002)
- The Beltway Snipers (2002)
- The West Virginia sniper (2003)
- Bart Ross, Chicago, Illinois, (2005)
- Brian Nichols, courtroom shooting, Atlanta, Georgia (2005)
- Jeff Weise, school shooting, Red Lake Chippewa Reservation, Minnesota (2005)
- Aaron Kyle Huff, house party shooting, Seattle, Washington (the Capitol Hill massacre, 2006)
- Hans Van Temsche, streets of Antwerp, Belgium, (2006)
- OCt 1913 Fayette Co Miss-lynched after killing 8 and wouning 15
See also
- Running amok - Article on violent rampaging
- Going postal - An article on post office violence
- Homicide - Article on murder
- Mass murder - Article on multiple homicide
- Serial killer - Article on murderers who kill repeatedly over short lengths of time
- Thrill killing - Article on murderers who kill for enjoyment
- Infamous Australian mass murders - An article on Australian mass murderers
Further reading
- Pantziarka, P. 2000, Lone Wolf, Virgin Publishing ISBN 0753504375. This book looks at individual cases, including Thomas Hamilton, Martin Bryant and Mark Barton. It also discusses the wider social context, psychological factors and political fall-out from spree killing.
- Helen Zahavi, Dirty Weekend (fiction)
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.