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. Spree killings tend to be spontaneous acts of violence whereas mass murder and serial killings have connotations of being pre-planned.
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 cooling off periods between attacks, while mass murderers typically stick to one location.
The worst spree killing was committed by Woo Bum-Kon (1982) when he killed 57 and then himself, using grenades and a high powered rifle. After that, the second and third deadliest examples would be Martin Bryant (Port Arthur massacre, 1996), using two semi-automatic weapons, a CAR-15 and an L1A1 SLR, that accounted for 35 deaths; and Mutsuo Toi (Tsuyama massacre, 1938) using an old Japanese rifle and swords, resulting in 30 fatalities.
One form of spree killing that garners particularly large amounts of media attention are those that occur in school killings, such as the Red Lake High School massacre in 2005.
Spree killers
Notable spree killers include:
- Edward J. Adams (1921)
- Mutsuo Toi (the Tsuyama massacre, 1938)
- Howard Unruh (1949)
- Billy Cook (1950)
- Ernest Ingenito (1950)
- Charles Starkweather (1958)
- Charles Whitman (1966)
- Paul John Knowles (the Casanova Killer) (1974)
- Joseph Paul Franklin (was also a racist serial killer) (1977-1980)
- Woo Bum-Kon (1982)
- James Oliver Huberty (San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, 1984)
- Michael Robert Ryan (the Hungerford massacre, 1987)
- Julian Knight (the Hoddle Street massacre, 1987)
- Frank Vitkovic (the Queen Street massacre, 1987)
- Barend Strydom (1988)
- Marc Lépine (the École Polytechnique massacre, 1989)
- Joseph Wesbecker (1989)
- David Gray (the Aramoana massacre, 1990)
- George Hennard (the Luby's Massacre, 1991)
- Valery Fabrikant (Concordia University, 1992)
- Simone Pianetti ( Camerata Cornello,Italy,1915)
- Colin Ferguson (1993)
- 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 (Red Lake High School massacre, 2005)
- Aaron Kyle Huff, house party shooting, Seattle, Washington (the Capitol Hill massacre, 2006)
- Hans Van Temsche, streets of Antwerp, Belgium, (2006)
In many countries the actions of spree killers have been catalysts for change in gun policy. This has been primarily through additional laws restricting gun ownership for private citizens.
See also
- Running amok
- Going postal
- Homicide
- Mass murder
- Serial killer
- Thrill killing
- Infamous Australian mass murders
Further reading
- Pantziarka, P. 2000, Lone Wolf, Virgin Publishing ISBN 0-7535-0437-5. 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.[[Category:Kid Spree aka Michael Adele
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