Charles Whitman took a stockpile of guns and ammunition
to the observatory platform atop a 300-foot tower at the
University of Texas and proceeded to shoot 46 people,
killing 14 people and wounding 32.
Whitman (below) who had killed both his wife and mother
the night before, was eventually shot to death after Austin
police officers courageously charged up the stairs of the
tower to subdue the attacker.
On April 20, 1999, two teenage gunmen killed 13 people in a
shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colorado, south of Denver.
At approximately 11:19 a.m., Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris,
18, dressed in trench coats, began shooting students outside
the school before moving inside to continue their rampage.
By 11:35 a.m., Klebold and Harris had killed 12 fellow students
and a teacher and wounded another 23 people. Shortly after
noon, the two teens turned their guns on themselves and died
by suicide.
The crime prompted a national debate on gun control and
school safety, as well as a major investigation to determine
what motivated the teen gunmen.
In the days immediately following the shootings, it was
speculated that Klebold and Harris purposely chose jocks,
minorities and Christians as their victims.
Harris (left) and Klebold (right) in the cafeteria.
On the tragic evening of November 13, 1974, a young man
shot and kills his entire family with a 35-caliber Marlin rifle
as his parents, two brothers and two sisters apparently
sleep.
The parents were killed first, having both been shot twice,
while all four children were killed with single shots.
The gruesome murder of the DeFeo family shook up the
sleepy Long Island town of Amityville—and lead to decades
of horror storytelling.
The trial of Ronald DeFoe Jr. started on October 14, 1975.The
psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. Harold Zolan, maintained
that although DeFeo was an abuser of LSD and heroin, who
also had an antisocial personality disorder, he was aware of
his actions at the time of the crime.
On November 21, 1975, DeFoe was found guilty of six counts
of second-degree murder. The judge sentenced DeFoe to six
concurrent life sentences of 25 years to life.
DeFoe was housed at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in
Fallsburg, New York. He died in prison at age 69 on March
12, 2021. The official cause of death was not released to the
public.
DeFeo Jr.(right) with his four younger siblings.
Ronald DeFeo Jr. was just 23 years old when he killed
his family.
The grave of the DeFeo family at Saint Charles Cemetery.
The first edition of the book in 1977.
The Amityville Horror house in 2017, painted white with a sunroom added to the back of the house.
The ‘eye windows’ on the top floor have long been removed
and replaced with square ones.
Lisa Lopez-Galvan has been identified as a victim of the
Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting that saw 29
injured, including nine children.
On December 29, 1890, in one of the final chapters of America’s
long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry killed 146 Sioux at Wounded
Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
A depiction of the Ghost Dance.
Civilian burial party, loading victims on a cart for burial.
Mass grave at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.
