Howard Unruh

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Howard Unruh (born January 21, 1921, Camden, N.J) is a World War Two veteran and American mass murderer, and is regarded as one of the first of the 'lone gunmen' to go on an indiscriminate shooting spree, an event that became more common in the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond.

On September 6, 1949 at 9:20am, twenty-eight year old Unruh left his house for a twelve minute trip around his Camden, New Jersey neighborhood, shooting people at random.

Always a reserved man, he had turned into a recluse in the three months before his spree. The World War II veteran was unemployed and lived with his mother. During the war, he was reportedly a brave tank soldier who kept meticulous notes of every German killed, down to details of the corpse. He was honorably discharged in 1945, and returned home with a collection of medals and firearms. He decorated his bedroom with military items, and set up a target range in his basement. His mother supported him by working at a factory while Howard hung around the house and attended daily church services.

He had trouble getting along with his neighbors, and his interactions with them deteriorated in the three months before his spree. He was considered a "mama's boy" and the subject of teasing. Eventually Unruh became paranoid about his neighbours and started to keep a diary detailing every single thing that he thought was said about him. Next to each of those complained about was the word "retal.", short for retaliate. He arrived home from a movie theater at 3am on September 6 to discover that the gate he had just built in front of his house had been stolen. This appears to have been the final trigger. After sleeping until 8am he got up, dressed in his best suit and ate breakfast with his mother.

At 9:20am he left the house armed with a German Luger looking for his first victims. In only twelve minutes he would shoot at a total of 26 people, killing 13 and wounding several others. When he heard the sirens of the approaching police, he returned to his apartment and engaged in a standoff with police. He was eventually convinced to surrender, and was taken in for interrogation. Only at the end of the interrogation did they discover he had been wounded as well.

Charges were filed for 13 counts of "willful and malicious slayings with malice aforethought" and three counts of "atrocious assault and battery." He was eventually pronounced insane, making him immune to criminal prosecution, and he was incarcerated in a unit for the criminally insane. As of 2005 he is in his eighties and still resides in Trenton State Hospital.

Unruh's rampage was the most visible of a number of murders and suicides by WWII veterans, and may have spurred the federal government to put additional resources into mental health treatment for this group.

Macabre made a song about Unruh, called "Howard Unrah (What Have You Done Now?)" which appeared on Sinister Slaughter, 1993.

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