Stockton massacre
Encyclopedia
The Cleveland School massacre (also known as the Stockton schoolyard shooting) occurred on January 17, 1989, at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton
, California
, United States
. The gunman, Patrick Purdy, who had a long criminal history, shot and killed five schoolchildren, and wounded 29 other schoolchildren and one teacher, before committing suicide
. His victims were predominantly Southeast Asian refugee
s.
On the morning of January 17, 1989, an anonymous person phoned the Stockton Police Department and warned of a death threat against Cleveland Elementary School. At noon that day, Patrick Purdy, a disturbed drifter and former Stockton resident, began his attack by setting his Chevrolet van alight after parking it behind the school. He then moved to the school playground and began firing with an AK-47 from behind a portable building. Purdy fired more than 100 rounds in three minutes killing five children and wounding thirty others including one teacher.
All of the fatally shot victims and many of the wounded were Cambodian
and Vietnam
ese immigrants. Purdy then took his own life by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Purdy had carved the words "freedom", "victory", "Earthman", and "Hezbollah" on his rifle, and his flak jacket
read "PLO", "Libya", and "death to the Great Satin" [sic].
to Patrick Benjamin Purdy and Kathleen Toscano. His father was a soldier in the United States Army
and was stationed at Fort Lewis
at the time of his son's birth. When Patrick was two years old, his mother filed for divorce against her husband after he had threatened to kill her with a firearm. Kathleen later moved with her son to South Lake Tahoe and later to Stockton, California
. He attended Cleveland Elementary School from kindergarten through second grade.
Patrick's mother remarried in September 1969, though was again divorced four years later. Albert Gulart, Sr., Purdy's stepfather, said Patrick was an overly quiet child who cried often. In fall 1973, Kathleen separated from Gulart and moved with her children from Stockton to the Sacramento
area. In December of that year, the Sacramento Child Protective Services were twice called to her residence, alleging Kathleen was physically abusing
her children. When Purdy was thirteen, he once struck his mother in the face and therefore was permanently banned from her house. He began living on the streets of San Francisco for a while, before being placed in foster care by authorities. He was later placed in the custody of his father living in Lodi, California
. While attending Lodi High School
, he became an alcoholic and a drug addict, and attended high school sporadically.
On 13 September 1981, Purdy's father was killed after being struck by a car. His family filed a wrongful-death suit in San Joaquin Superior Court against the driver of the car, asking for $600,000 in damages, although the suit was later dismissed. Purdy also accused his mother of taking money his father had left him, using the money to buy a car and taking a vacation to New York City, an incident that deepened the animosities between them.
After his father's death, Purdy was briefly rendered homeless, before being placed in the custody of a foster mother in Los Angeles
.
Purdy had a long criminal history, which began during early adolescence
. First police records of Purdy date back to 1977, when Sacramento police confiscated BB gun
s from then 12-year-old Purdy. In June 1980, Purdy was first arrested at age 15 for violating a court-order. He was arrested in the same month for underage drinking. He was later arrested for homosexual prostitution
in August 1980, possession of marijuana and drug dealing in 1982, and in 1983 for possession of an illegal weapon and receipt of stolen property. On 11 October 1984, he was arrested for being an accomplice in an armed robbery at a service station, for which he spent 32 days in the Yolo County Jail. In 1986 his mother called police when he vandalized her car, after she refused to give him money for narcotics.
In April 1987, he and his half-brother Albert were arrested for firing a semi-automatic pistol at trees in the Eldorado National Forest
. At the time, he was carrying a book about the white supremacist group Aryan Nations
, and told the County Sheriff that it was his "duty to help the suppressed and overthrow the suppressor." Later in prison he attempted suicide twice, once by hanging himself with a rope made out of strips of his shirt, and a second time by cutting his wrists with his fingernails. A subsequent psychiatric assessment found him to suffer from very mild mental retardation, and to be a danger to himself and others.
In the fall of 1987, he began attending welding classes at San Joaquin Delta College and complained about the high percentage of Southeast Asian students there. In October 1987, he left California and drifted between Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Tennessee searching for work. In early 1988 he worked at Numeri Tech, a small machine shop located in Stockton, and from July to October as a boilermaker in Portland, Oregon
, living in Sandy
with his aunt. He also purchased the Chinese-made AK-47
derivative used in the shooting there on August 3. He eventually returned to California where he rented a room at the El Rancho Motel in Stockton on December 26. After the shooting the room was found decorated with numerous toy soldiers.
Police stated that Purdy had problems with alcohol and drug addiction. He was said to have been a misanthrope, and his hatred was especially directed against Asian immigrants, believing that they took jobs from native-born Americans.
According to his friends, who described him as friendly and never violent towards anyone, Purdy was suicidal at times and frustrated about the fact that he failed to "make it on his own". Steve Sloan, a night-shift supervisor at Numeri Tech, stated that "He was a real ball of frustration, and was angry about everything." Another one of Purdy's former co-workers stated, "He was always miserable. I've never seen a guy that didn't want to smile as much as he didn't." In a notebook found in a hotel where he lived in early 1988, Purdy wrote about himself through a self-loathing perspective: "I'm so dumb, I'm dumber than a sixth-grader. My mother and father were dumb."
under his arm?" Time magazine asked. They continued, "The easy availability of weapons like this, which have no purpose other than killing human beings, can all too readily turn the delusions of sick gunmen into tragic nightmares." Purdy was able to purchase the weapons because the judicial system had not convicted him of any crime that prevented him from purchasing firearms. Neither had Purdy been adjudicated mentally ill, another disqualifying factor.
In California
, measures were taken to first define and then ban assault weapon
s, resulting in the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Act. On the Federal level, Congress struggled with a way to ban weapons like Purdy's aesthetically military-style rifle without being seen to also ban more sporting-looking rifles. No evidence was reported at this time however as to how a firearm looking "military style" was any more dangerous than a firearm looking "sporting style". These were banned in the Federal assault weapons ban
, enacted in 1994, which expired in 2004. Later in 1989, President George H. W. Bush
signed an executive order (the Semi-Automatic Assault Rifle Ban) banning importation of assault weapons in 1989. President Bill Clinton
signed another executive order in 1994 which banned importation of most firearms and ammunition from China.
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The gunman, Patrick Purdy, who had a long criminal history, shot and killed five schoolchildren, and wounded 29 other schoolchildren and one teacher, before committing suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. His victims were predominantly Southeast Asian refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s.
The shooting
| Victim Fatalities |
| 1. Rathanar Or, age 9 |
| 2. Ram Chun, age 8 |
| 3. Sokhim An, age 6 |
| 4. Oeun Lim, age 8 |
| 5. Thuy Tran, age 6 |
On the morning of January 17, 1989, an anonymous person phoned the Stockton Police Department and warned of a death threat against Cleveland Elementary School. At noon that day, Patrick Purdy, a disturbed drifter and former Stockton resident, began his attack by setting his Chevrolet van alight after parking it behind the school. He then moved to the school playground and began firing with an AK-47 from behind a portable building. Purdy fired more than 100 rounds in three minutes killing five children and wounding thirty others including one teacher.
All of the fatally shot victims and many of the wounded were Cambodian
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese immigrants. Purdy then took his own life by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Purdy had carved the words "freedom", "victory", "Earthman", and "Hezbollah" on his rifle, and his flak jacket
Flak jacket
thumb|300px|The two components of an obsolete British military flak vest. On the left, the nylon vest. On the right, the several layers of [[ballistic nylon]] that provide the actual protection...
read "PLO", "Libya", and "death to the Great Satin" [sic].
Perpetrator
The perpetrator of the shooting, Patrick Edward Purdy (10 November 1964 – 17 January 1989), was an unemployed former welder and drifter. Purdy was born in Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
to Patrick Benjamin Purdy and Kathleen Toscano. His father was a soldier in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and was stationed at Fort Lewis
Fort Lewis
Joint Base Lewis-McChord is a United States military facility located south-southwest of Tacoma, Washington. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Joint Base Garrison, Joint Base Lewis-McChord....
at the time of his son's birth. When Patrick was two years old, his mother filed for divorce against her husband after he had threatened to kill her with a firearm. Kathleen later moved with her son to South Lake Tahoe and later to Stockton, California
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
. He attended Cleveland Elementary School from kindergarten through second grade.
Patrick's mother remarried in September 1969, though was again divorced four years later. Albert Gulart, Sr., Purdy's stepfather, said Patrick was an overly quiet child who cried often. In fall 1973, Kathleen separated from Gulart and moved with her children from Stockton to the Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
area. In December of that year, the Sacramento Child Protective Services were twice called to her residence, alleging Kathleen was physically abusing
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
her children. When Purdy was thirteen, he once struck his mother in the face and therefore was permanently banned from her house. He began living on the streets of San Francisco for a while, before being placed in foster care by authorities. He was later placed in the custody of his father living in Lodi, California
Lodi, California
Lodi is a city located in , in the northern portion of California's Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 census. The California Department of Finance's population estimate as of January 1, 2011 is 62,473....
. While attending Lodi High School
Lodi High School (California)
Lodi High School, serving grades 9-12, is one of four comprehensive high schools in Lodi Unified School District. The physical plant encompasses three gymnasiums, 59 permanent classrooms, one cafeteria, 30 portables, four computer labs, one theater complex, a college and career center, one...
, he became an alcoholic and a drug addict, and attended high school sporadically.
On 13 September 1981, Purdy's father was killed after being struck by a car. His family filed a wrongful-death suit in San Joaquin Superior Court against the driver of the car, asking for $600,000 in damages, although the suit was later dismissed. Purdy also accused his mother of taking money his father had left him, using the money to buy a car and taking a vacation to New York City, an incident that deepened the animosities between them.
After his father's death, Purdy was briefly rendered homeless, before being placed in the custody of a foster mother in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Purdy had a long criminal history, which began during early adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
. First police records of Purdy date back to 1977, when Sacramento police confiscated BB gun
BB gun
BB guns are a type of air gun designed to shoot projectiles named BBs after the birdshot pellet of approximately the same size. These projectiles are usually spherical but can also be pointed; those are usually used for bird hunting. Modern day BB guns usually have a smoothbore barrel, with a bore...
s from then 12-year-old Purdy. In June 1980, Purdy was first arrested at age 15 for violating a court-order. He was arrested in the same month for underage drinking. He was later arrested for homosexual prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
in August 1980, possession of marijuana and drug dealing in 1982, and in 1983 for possession of an illegal weapon and receipt of stolen property. On 11 October 1984, he was arrested for being an accomplice in an armed robbery at a service station, for which he spent 32 days in the Yolo County Jail. In 1986 his mother called police when he vandalized her car, after she refused to give him money for narcotics.
In April 1987, he and his half-brother Albert were arrested for firing a semi-automatic pistol at trees in the Eldorado National Forest
Eldorado National Forest
Eldorado National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range, in eastern Eldorado National Forest is a [[U.S. National Forest]] located in the central [[Sierra Nevada |Sierra Nevada]] [[mountain range]], in eastern Eldorado National Forest is a [[U.S...
. At the time, he was carrying a book about the white supremacist group Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
, and told the County Sheriff that it was his "duty to help the suppressed and overthrow the suppressor." Later in prison he attempted suicide twice, once by hanging himself with a rope made out of strips of his shirt, and a second time by cutting his wrists with his fingernails. A subsequent psychiatric assessment found him to suffer from very mild mental retardation, and to be a danger to himself and others.
In the fall of 1987, he began attending welding classes at San Joaquin Delta College and complained about the high percentage of Southeast Asian students there. In October 1987, he left California and drifted between Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Tennessee searching for work. In early 1988 he worked at Numeri Tech, a small machine shop located in Stockton, and from July to October as a boilermaker in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, living in Sandy
Sandy, Oregon
Sandy is a city located in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, and named after the nearby Sandy River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 5,385, however the 2006 estimate shows 7,070 people....
with his aunt. He also purchased the Chinese-made AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
derivative used in the shooting there on August 3. He eventually returned to California where he rented a room at the El Rancho Motel in Stockton on December 26. After the shooting the room was found decorated with numerous toy soldiers.
Police stated that Purdy had problems with alcohol and drug addiction. He was said to have been a misanthrope, and his hatred was especially directed against Asian immigrants, believing that they took jobs from native-born Americans.
According to his friends, who described him as friendly and never violent towards anyone, Purdy was suicidal at times and frustrated about the fact that he failed to "make it on his own". Steve Sloan, a night-shift supervisor at Numeri Tech, stated that "He was a real ball of frustration, and was angry about everything." Another one of Purdy's former co-workers stated, "He was always miserable. I've never seen a guy that didn't want to smile as much as he didn't." In a notebook found in a hotel where he lived in early 1988, Purdy wrote about himself through a self-loathing perspective: "I'm so dumb, I'm dumber than a sixth-grader. My mother and father were dumb."
Repercussions
The multiple murders at Stockton received national news coverage and spurred calls for regulation of semi-automatic weapons. "Why could Purdy, an alcoholic who had been arrested for such offenses as selling weapons and attempted robbery, walk into a gun shop in Sandy, Oregon, and leave with an AK-47AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
under his arm?" Time magazine asked. They continued, "The easy availability of weapons like this, which have no purpose other than killing human beings, can all too readily turn the delusions of sick gunmen into tragic nightmares." Purdy was able to purchase the weapons because the judicial system had not convicted him of any crime that prevented him from purchasing firearms. Neither had Purdy been adjudicated mentally ill, another disqualifying factor.
In California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, measures were taken to first define and then ban assault weapon
Assault weapon
Assault weapon is a non-technical term referring to any of a broad category of firearms with certain features, including some semiautomatic rifles, some pistols, and some shotguns. There are a variety of different statutory definitions of assault weapons in local, state, and federal laws in the...
s, resulting in the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Act. On the Federal level, Congress struggled with a way to ban weapons like Purdy's aesthetically military-style rifle without being seen to also ban more sporting-looking rifles. No evidence was reported at this time however as to how a firearm looking "military style" was any more dangerous than a firearm looking "sporting style". These were banned in the Federal assault weapons ban
Federal assault weapons ban
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons"...
, enacted in 1994, which expired in 2004. Later in 1989, President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
signed an executive order (the Semi-Automatic Assault Rifle Ban) banning importation of assault weapons in 1989. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
signed another executive order in 1994 which banned importation of most firearms and ammunition from China.
External links
- Five Children Killed As Gunman Attacks A California School, 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...
(January 18, 1989) - After Shooting, Horror but Few Answers, 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...
(January 19, 1989) - Killer Depicted as Loner Full of Hate 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...
(January 20, 1989) - Effort to Ban Assault Rifles Gains Momentum, 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...
(January 28, 1989) - Ban on Assault Rifles Takes Effect in Los Angeles, 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...
(March 3, 1989) - Stockton Journal; Where 5 Died, a Monk Gives Solace, 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...
(May 11, 1989) - Title 18 USC Chapter 44 — PDF file
- Title 26 USC Chapter 53 — PDF file