Carl Robert Brown
Encyclopedia
Carl Robert Brown was an American
teacher
and mass murder
er who killed eight people and injured another three with a shotgun
in a Miami, Florida
welding shop on August 20, 1982. He was later fatally shot and run down by two witnesses, when cycling away from the crime scene.
and was honorably discharged in 1954. People later stated that Brown always kept a military bearing about himself and was quite militaristic. In 1955 he moved from Chicago
to Florida, where he graduated from the University of Miami
in 1957 and in 1964 from East Carolina College in Greenville, North Carolina
, earning a Master's degree in education. After working briefly for Keyes Realty he got a full-time job as history teacher at Hialeah Junior High School in 1962 and moonlighted at Miami-Dade Community College as an accounting instructor from 1964 to 1970.
Brown was married twice and had three children. His first wife died and his second marriage failed, according to his second wife, Sylvia, because he refused to seek psychological help. As a consequence his condition began to deteriorate, resulting in an increasingly disheveled and gaunt appearance, and, though once being a rather gregarious person, he began isolating himself more and more. A neighbor later described him looking "as if he were 80 years old". Reportedly one of his daughters once tried to have him hospitalized, though as his admission had to be voluntary her request was declined. Additionally his career began to suffer. Due to problems at Hialeah Junior High, Brown, who was well-known as a bigot and blatant racist who hated everyone, was transferred to Drew Middle School, a school with a black majority, in 1981. There he taught American history until March 3, 1982 when he was relieved of his teaching duties for medical leave to treat his psychiatric problems.
Though neighbors described Brown as a quiet, kind and helpful man, who was working hard to keep his duplex
neat and clean, and praising him overall as a landlord, it was also said that he made a habit of walking into other peoples yards early in the morning, waking them by yelling "United States!" and that during the night shots were heard from his house. It was also reported that he once broke a window when firing a pellet gun, and picked grapefruits from a neighbor's tree wearing only his underwear. Apparently he also collected aluminum cans.
After a trip abroad, which he had taken shortly before the shooting, he came back in worse shape than before and stated that nothing in the United States stood for anything.
and conducted confusing conversations where he stringed together completely unrelated things. Students would often take advantage of this by asking him a question that resulted in him talking for the rest of the period. On one occasion, on May 5, 1977, Brown sent three girls to detention because they refused to sit in his class, as they were "sick and tired of hearing him talk." He was also known to be very prejudiced, to make threatening remarks, and to insult people of other races.
During his time at Hialeah Junior High, Brown wrote a letter to the principal for "the enlightenment of the assistant principals" discussing the misbehavior of his students in rambling and poorly constructed sentences. "I don't read the students their rights as infants, you all do. (...) If you ever study business law, until a child is 18, the child can do just about anything the child desires to do and get away with the abuse. Any adult interfering, is accountable as an adult, but with infancy laws, the child is a child."
In the summer of 1981 Brown was transferred to Drew Middle School. There, on December 3, he had a dispute with two students, who he accused of throwing books. During the argument Brown described his sexual behavior with a girlfriend and chased the boys with a stapler
. The School Board's director of personnel control, Pat Gray, described this as "a classroom incident (...) wherein Mr. Brown demonstrated a significant lack of adult judgment, an overtone of sexual fixation, and definitive aggression toward students." The school's principal wrote: "I found Mr. Brown to be incoherent and unable to grasp the severity of the situation at hand. I, also, fear for the safety of the students since during my conference with Mr. Brown he demonstrated no regret for his actions pointing to the fact that he is a 'man' and any man would have reacted in the same manner."
Principal Octavio Visiedo wrote in his last evaluation of Brown: "I find Mr. Brown to be a negative force. Today I did a follow-up observation of Mr. Brown's second-period class and I continue to be alarmed about the potential for disaster in that class. As you can see, from today's observation, there is absolutely no discipline or control in that class and I am concerned for the safety of the students and also Mr. Brown." Further, he stated that Brown's class was in "total and complete chaos", with students talking constantly, wandering about at will, and leaving without permission.
Brown reacted by writing a response in which he suggested that the principal "should seek the help" of the School Board's employee assistance program, to which he himself was referred to in January 1982.
Psychiatrist Dr. Robert A. Wainger examined Brown, saying that "Mr. Brown is suffering from rather severe anxiety associated with some paranoid and grandiose ideas" and that he also "demonstrates a probable thinking disorder". Though Wainger wrote that these symptoms would affect Brown's work, he was also of the opinion that he would be able to continue teaching if given psychotherapy and medication. Wainger also wrote that "although he may appear to be rather unusual and disorganized to the people around him, he (Brown) does not represent a danger to either.
After his examination, Brown wrote to Wainger: "I wish to thank you for the very interesting and informative meeting I experienced yesterday. Please stress blood analysis, heart cartograph [sic] and urine plus the other mental health features of your program." Finally, on March 3, Brown was relieved of his duties to seek psychiatrical [sic] help and he agreed to seek further treatment from Wainger, though in a meeting with Pat Gray, Brown apparently said: "Wainger wants to study me, that's all. I can cure Dr. Wainger. I will treat him. I will change his seeds."
According to his former wife, Sylvia, Brown asked to return to work two days prior to the shooting, but his psychiatrist, who later stated that Brown showed no aggressiveness at that time, declined his request.
Early the next day Brown went to a gun store a few blocks from his home in Hialeah and purchased two shotguns, a semi-automatic rifle
and ammunition. An hour before starting his rampage, Brown invited his 10-year old son to join him in "killing a lot of people" telling that the final destination would be Hialeah Junior High School.
Shortly before 11:00 a.m. he arrived at the welding shop on his cycle, wearing a Panama hat
and having one of the shotguns, which was variously identified as a 12 gauge
Mossberg 500
or an Ithaca 37
with pistol grip, slung over his shoulder. He entered the shop through a side door and began shooting, saying that he would send everybody to Germany
. According to police Brown walked through the building, methodically shooting everyone, most of the time at close range and sometimes twice, leaving three victims in the office and others in the work area and the driveway in front of the shop. In the end six of the eleven employees present lay dead and two more dying, while three who were injured managed to escape and jump into the car of a passing motorist, who brought them to a gasoline station a mile away and called for help. When his gun was emptied Carl Brown stepped out of the store, reloaded and reentered to shoot two more times, before leaving for good and cycling away, apparently towards Hialeah Junior High School. According to a witness Brown "looked very passive and very nonchalant" and "wasn't trying to escape, just strictly leaving the crime scene." Another witness put it this way: "He got on his bike and pedaled off as if he was going for a stroll on North River Drive."
When Mark Kram, an employee at a nearby metal shop, was told of the massacre, he grabbed a .38 revolver and set out to pursue the shooter in his car. Down the street he picked up Ernest Hammett, who was trying to flag down cars, and together they tried to get hold of the perpetrator. Six blocks away from the crime scene, near Miami International Airport
, they caught up with Brown and Kram, according to himself, fired a warning shot "over his (Brown's) head", though the bullet hit Brown in the back and later proved to be the cause of his death. When Brown turned in his saddle, aiming at his pursuers with his shotgun, they ran him over, crashing him into a concrete light pole. Brown, who still had 20 shells in his pockets, died shortly afterward.
The injured were identified as Carlos Vasquez Sr., 42, Carlos Vasquez Jr., 17 and Eduardo Lima, 30.
, the manufacturer of the shotgun used by Brown in his rampage.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
and mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
er who killed eight people and injured another three with a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
in a Miami, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
welding shop on August 20, 1982. He was later fatally shot and run down by two witnesses, when cycling away from the crime scene.
Biography
Brown was born on November 26, 1930. He joined the NavyNavy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
and was honorably discharged in 1954. People later stated that Brown always kept a military bearing about himself and was quite militaristic. In 1955 he moved from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to Florida, where he graduated from the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
in 1957 and in 1964 from East Carolina College in Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville is the county seat of Pitt County and principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area. Greenville is the health, entertainment, and educational hub of North Carolina's Tidewater and Coastal Plain and in 2008 was listed as the Tenth Largest City in North Carolina...
, earning a Master's degree in education. After working briefly for Keyes Realty he got a full-time job as history teacher at Hialeah Junior High School in 1962 and moonlighted at Miami-Dade Community College as an accounting instructor from 1964 to 1970.
Brown was married twice and had three children. His first wife died and his second marriage failed, according to his second wife, Sylvia, because he refused to seek psychological help. As a consequence his condition began to deteriorate, resulting in an increasingly disheveled and gaunt appearance, and, though once being a rather gregarious person, he began isolating himself more and more. A neighbor later described him looking "as if he were 80 years old". Reportedly one of his daughters once tried to have him hospitalized, though as his admission had to be voluntary her request was declined. Additionally his career began to suffer. Due to problems at Hialeah Junior High, Brown, who was well-known as a bigot and blatant racist who hated everyone, was transferred to Drew Middle School, a school with a black majority, in 1981. There he taught American history until March 3, 1982 when he was relieved of his teaching duties for medical leave to treat his psychiatric problems.
Though neighbors described Brown as a quiet, kind and helpful man, who was working hard to keep his duplex
Duplex (building)
The term duplex can be used to describe several different dwelling unit configurations:A duplex house is defined as a dwelling having apartments with separate entrances for two families. This includes two-story houses having a complete apartment on each floor and also side-by-side apartments on a...
neat and clean, and praising him overall as a landlord, it was also said that he made a habit of walking into other peoples yards early in the morning, waking them by yelling "United States!" and that during the night shots were heard from his house. It was also reported that he once broke a window when firing a pellet gun, and picked grapefruits from a neighbor's tree wearing only his underwear. Apparently he also collected aluminum cans.
After a trip abroad, which he had taken shortly before the shooting, he came back in worse shape than before and stated that nothing in the United States stood for anything.
School problems
While Brown wrote in his application for a job as a teacher in 1961 that he "always enjoyed being with younger people" and felt that he "could benefit these younger people with his abilities", his work began to suffer as his psychological problems aggravated over the years. Being seen as a competent teacher for a long time, more and more complaints were filed against him as his condition worsened. Students began to refuse to sit in his class as he rambled incoherently about his personal problems and topics unrelated to his curriculumCurriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
and conducted confusing conversations where he stringed together completely unrelated things. Students would often take advantage of this by asking him a question that resulted in him talking for the rest of the period. On one occasion, on May 5, 1977, Brown sent three girls to detention because they refused to sit in his class, as they were "sick and tired of hearing him talk." He was also known to be very prejudiced, to make threatening remarks, and to insult people of other races.
During his time at Hialeah Junior High, Brown wrote a letter to the principal for "the enlightenment of the assistant principals" discussing the misbehavior of his students in rambling and poorly constructed sentences. "I don't read the students their rights as infants, you all do. (...) If you ever study business law, until a child is 18, the child can do just about anything the child desires to do and get away with the abuse. Any adult interfering, is accountable as an adult, but with infancy laws, the child is a child."
In the summer of 1981 Brown was transferred to Drew Middle School. There, on December 3, he had a dispute with two students, who he accused of throwing books. During the argument Brown described his sexual behavior with a girlfriend and chased the boys with a stapler
Stapler
A stapler is a mechanical device that joins sheets of paper or similar material by driving a thin metal staple through the sheets and folding the ends. Staplers are widely used in government, business, offices, and schools....
. The School Board's director of personnel control, Pat Gray, described this as "a classroom incident (...) wherein Mr. Brown demonstrated a significant lack of adult judgment, an overtone of sexual fixation, and definitive aggression toward students." The school's principal wrote: "I found Mr. Brown to be incoherent and unable to grasp the severity of the situation at hand. I, also, fear for the safety of the students since during my conference with Mr. Brown he demonstrated no regret for his actions pointing to the fact that he is a 'man' and any man would have reacted in the same manner."
Principal Octavio Visiedo wrote in his last evaluation of Brown: "I find Mr. Brown to be a negative force. Today I did a follow-up observation of Mr. Brown's second-period class and I continue to be alarmed about the potential for disaster in that class. As you can see, from today's observation, there is absolutely no discipline or control in that class and I am concerned for the safety of the students and also Mr. Brown." Further, he stated that Brown's class was in "total and complete chaos", with students talking constantly, wandering about at will, and leaving without permission.
Brown reacted by writing a response in which he suggested that the principal "should seek the help" of the School Board's employee assistance program, to which he himself was referred to in January 1982.
Psychiatrist Dr. Robert A. Wainger examined Brown, saying that "Mr. Brown is suffering from rather severe anxiety associated with some paranoid and grandiose ideas" and that he also "demonstrates a probable thinking disorder". Though Wainger wrote that these symptoms would affect Brown's work, he was also of the opinion that he would be able to continue teaching if given psychotherapy and medication. Wainger also wrote that "although he may appear to be rather unusual and disorganized to the people around him, he (Brown) does not represent a danger to either.
After his examination, Brown wrote to Wainger: "I wish to thank you for the very interesting and informative meeting I experienced yesterday. Please stress blood analysis, heart cartograph [sic] and urine plus the other mental health features of your program." Finally, on March 3, Brown was relieved of his duties to seek psychiatrical [sic] help and he agreed to seek further treatment from Wainger, though in a meeting with Pat Gray, Brown apparently said: "Wainger wants to study me, that's all. I can cure Dr. Wainger. I will treat him. I will change his seeds."
According to his former wife, Sylvia, Brown asked to return to work two days prior to the shooting, but his psychiatrist, who later stated that Brown showed no aggressiveness at that time, declined his request.
Shooting
On August 19, the day before the shooting, Brown had a heated argument with Jorge Castalleda, an employee at "Bob Moore's Welding & Machine Service Inc.", about a $20 bill for repairing a lawnmower motor he wanted to use to power his bicycle, saying the work was poorly done. He was also angry, because his traveler's check was refused. Realizing that his complaints were of no avail, Brown left the shop, stating that he would come in and kill everybody; no one took him seriously.Early the next day Brown went to a gun store a few blocks from his home in Hialeah and purchased two shotguns, a semi-automatic rifle
Semi-automatic rifle
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, automatically ejects the spent cartridge, chambers a fresh cartridge from its magazine, and is immediately ready to fire another shot...
and ammunition. An hour before starting his rampage, Brown invited his 10-year old son to join him in "killing a lot of people" telling that the final destination would be Hialeah Junior High School.
Shortly before 11:00 a.m. he arrived at the welding shop on his cycle, wearing a Panama hat
Panama hat
A Panama hat is a traditional brimmed hat of Ecuadorian origin that is made from the plaited leaves of the toquilla straw plant...
and having one of the shotguns, which was variously identified as a 12 gauge
Gauge (bore diameter)
The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the diameter of the barrel. Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the firearm, and is expressed as the multiplicative inverse of the sphere's weight as a fraction of a pound . Thus...
Mossberg 500
Mossberg 500
Mossberg 500 is a series of shotguns manufactured by O.F. Mossberg & Sons. The 500 series comprises widely varying models of hammerless, pump action repeaters, all of which share the same basic receiver and action, but differ in bore size, barrel length, choke options, magazine capacity, and...
or an Ithaca 37
Ithaca 37
The Ithaca 37 is a pump-action shotgun made in large numbers for the civilian, military, and police markets. It utilizes a novel combination ejection/loading port on the bottom of the gun which leaves the sides closed to the elements. In addition, the outline of the gun is clean...
with pistol grip, slung over his shoulder. He entered the shop through a side door and began shooting, saying that he would send everybody to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. According to police Brown walked through the building, methodically shooting everyone, most of the time at close range and sometimes twice, leaving three victims in the office and others in the work area and the driveway in front of the shop. In the end six of the eleven employees present lay dead and two more dying, while three who were injured managed to escape and jump into the car of a passing motorist, who brought them to a gasoline station a mile away and called for help. When his gun was emptied Carl Brown stepped out of the store, reloaded and reentered to shoot two more times, before leaving for good and cycling away, apparently towards Hialeah Junior High School. According to a witness Brown "looked very passive and very nonchalant" and "wasn't trying to escape, just strictly leaving the crime scene." Another witness put it this way: "He got on his bike and pedaled off as if he was going for a stroll on North River Drive."
When Mark Kram, an employee at a nearby metal shop, was told of the massacre, he grabbed a .38 revolver and set out to pursue the shooter in his car. Down the street he picked up Ernest Hammett, who was trying to flag down cars, and together they tried to get hold of the perpetrator. Six blocks away from the crime scene, near Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area...
, they caught up with Brown and Kram, according to himself, fired a warning shot "over his (Brown's) head", though the bullet hit Brown in the back and later proved to be the cause of his death. When Brown turned in his saddle, aiming at his pursuers with his shotgun, they ran him over, crashing him into a concrete light pole. Brown, who still had 20 shells in his pockets, died shortly afterward.
Victims
|
|
The injured were identified as Carlos Vasquez Sr., 42, Carlos Vasquez Jr., 17 and Eduardo Lima, 30.
Aftermath
Following the shooting Robert Steelman, whose wife Martha was among the dead, filed lawsuits against the Garcia Gun Center, where Brown had purchased his weapons, and the Ithaca Gun CompanyIthaca Gun Company
The Ithaca Gun Company is a manufacturer of shotguns and rifles originally established in Ithaca, New York in 1880.-Production:Ithaca became famous for building firearms based on expired patents owned by Remington Arms...
, the manufacturer of the shotgun used by Brown in his rampage.
External links
- Murderer's Row, Time Magazine (August 30, 1982)
- Gunman in Miami kills 8 in rampage, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(August 21, 1982) - No charges planned against Miami man who shot gunman, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(August 24, 1982) - Florida City Rescinds Law on Buying Guns, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(October 14, 1982)