was not there; Unruh killed the man's wife instead.
When he heard the sound of sirens from the approaching police, Unruh returned to his apartment and initiated in a standoff. Over sixty police personnel surrounded Unruh's home and a shootout developed. During the blockade, Philip W. Buxton, a reporter from the Camden Evening Courier, phoned Unruh's home and spoke to him for a short time. On a gut feeling, Buxton had looked up Unruh's number in the phone book. Buxton later recounted the conversation, which was cut short when police hurled tear gas into the apartment:
"What are they doing to you?"
"They haven't done anything to me yet, but I'm doing plenty to them."
"How many have you killed?"
"I don't know yet. I haven't counted them. But it looks like a pretty good score."
"Why are you killing people?"
"I don't know. I can't answer that yet. I'm too busy.
I'll have to talk to you later. A couple of friends are coming to get me."
Just minutes after that conversation, Unruh was arrested by the police and taken for interrogation. He told the police that he had spent the previous evening sitting through three showings of a double feature: The Lady Gambles, and I Cheated the Law, stating that he’d thought that actress Barbara Stanwyck was one of his hated neighbors. He provided a careful description of his actions during the killings. Only at the end of the questioning did the police discover he had received a gunshot wound in the left thigh which he had been keeping secret. He was consequently taken to Cooper Hospital for treatment.
Charges were filed for thirteen counts of willful and malicious slaying with malice aforethought, and three counts of atrocious assault and battery. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia by psychologists, and found to be insane, making him invulnerable to criminal prosecution. When he was able to leave Cooper Hospital, Unruh was sent to the New Jersey Hospital for the Insane (now Trenton Psychiatric Hospital). Unruh's last public words, made during an interview with a psychologist, were, "I'd have killed a thousand if I had enough bullets."
Unruh’s is considered to be the first single event of mass murder in U.S. history. He died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of eighty-eight. The incident became known as the Walk of Death.
- 18 - Michael Robert Ryan
On August 19 th , 1987, Michael Robert Ryan, twenty-seven, shot and killed sixteen people, and wounded another fifteen, before killing himself, in Hungerford, Berkshire, England.
Michael Ryan was born on May 18 th , 1960, to Alfred and Dorothy Ryan. He grew up in South View, Hungerford, where people remembered him as sullen and quiet. In school he was an underachiever and was never involved in social events or sports. After graduating, he attended college to become a building contractor, but soon dropped out and continued living with his parents. His mother would indulge him with anything he wanted: cars, insurance, gas, his first rifle. When Ryan was old enough, he purchased a shotgun and other weapons, which he proudly displayed in a glass cabinet in his bedroom. Ryan’s guns gave him the feeling of power and control that he had always needed but lacked.
Ryan would brag to people about his false exploits, making himself out to be far more talented and experienced than he actually was. He told people that he had served in the Second Parachute Regiment of the British Armed Forces, that he was getting married, and that he owned a gun shop. He would become exceedingly annoyed if people did not believe him, and his mother would often corroborate these lies to people in a frantic effort to help her son feel better.
He was obsessed with the military and purchased army jackets, survival gear, and masks. He even convinced the police to permit him a license to own more powerful firearms. They were unable to refuse him as he had no record of psychological instability and no criminal record; however, they
When he heard the sound of sirens from the approaching police, Unruh returned to his apartment and initiated in a standoff. Over sixty police personnel surrounded Unruh's home and a shootout developed. During the blockade, Philip W. Buxton, a reporter from the Camden Evening Courier, phoned Unruh's home and spoke to him for a short time. On a gut feeling, Buxton had looked up Unruh's number in the phone book. Buxton later recounted the conversation, which was cut short when police hurled tear gas into the apartment:
"What are they doing to you?"
"They haven't done anything to me yet, but I'm doing plenty to them."
"How many have you killed?"
"I don't know yet. I haven't counted them. But it looks like a pretty good score."
"Why are you killing people?"
"I don't know. I can't answer that yet. I'm too busy.
I'll have to talk to you later. A couple of friends are coming to get me."
Just minutes after that conversation, Unruh was arrested by the police and taken for interrogation. He told the police that he had spent the previous evening sitting through three showings of a double feature: The Lady Gambles, and I Cheated the Law, stating that he’d thought that actress Barbara Stanwyck was one of his hated neighbors. He provided a careful description of his actions during the killings. Only at the end of the questioning did the police discover he had received a gunshot wound in the left thigh which he had been keeping secret. He was consequently taken to Cooper Hospital for treatment.
Charges were filed for thirteen counts of willful and malicious slaying with malice aforethought, and three counts of atrocious assault and battery. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia by psychologists, and found to be insane, making him invulnerable to criminal prosecution. When he was able to leave Cooper Hospital, Unruh was sent to the New Jersey Hospital for the Insane (now Trenton Psychiatric Hospital). Unruh's last public words, made during an interview with a psychologist, were, "I'd have killed a thousand if I had enough bullets."
Unruh’s is considered to be the first single event of mass murder in U.S. history. He died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of eighty-eight. The incident became known as the Walk of Death.
- 18 - Michael Robert Ryan
On August 19 th , 1987, Michael Robert Ryan, twenty-seven, shot and killed sixteen people, and wounded another fifteen, before killing himself, in Hungerford, Berkshire, England.
Michael Ryan was born on May 18 th , 1960, to Alfred and Dorothy Ryan. He grew up in South View, Hungerford, where people remembered him as sullen and quiet. In school he was an underachiever and was never involved in social events or sports. After graduating, he attended college to become a building contractor, but soon dropped out and continued living with his parents. His mother would indulge him with anything he wanted: cars, insurance, gas, his first rifle. When Ryan was old enough, he purchased a shotgun and other weapons, which he proudly displayed in a glass cabinet in his bedroom. Ryan’s guns gave him the feeling of power and control that he had always needed but lacked.
Ryan would brag to people about his false exploits, making himself out to be far more talented and experienced than he actually was. He told people that he had served in the Second Parachute Regiment of the British Armed Forces, that he was getting married, and that he owned a gun shop. He would become exceedingly annoyed if people did not believe him, and his mother would often corroborate these lies to people in a frantic effort to help her son feel better.
He was obsessed with the military and purchased army jackets, survival gear, and masks. He even convinced the police to permit him a license to own more powerful firearms. They were unable to refuse him as he had no record of psychological instability and no criminal record; however, they
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