Twelve Killed And Three Wounded When U.S. Ex-Serviceman Goes Berserk

Chronicle (Levin), 7 September 1949, Page 5

Twelve Killed And Three Wounded When U.S. Ex-Serviceman Goes Berserk

(N.Z.P.A.-

-Reuter.

Copyright) «

Received Wednesday, 9.30 a.m. NEW YORK, Sept. 6. A 26-year-old ex-servieeman went berserk in Camden, New Jersey, today and killed 12 persons and wounded three others.

The ex-serviceman, Howard Unruh, killed flve men, five women and two boys and wounded a man, a woman and a boy in a few minutes in a quiet residential section of Camden. Unruh killed people in houses, shops and in the street until police fire forced him to take cover in a house. !k- Barricading himself in a second . storey room, he exchanged shots with the police until tear gas bombs forced him to surrender. The police, reconstructing the shooting, said that Unruh, armed with a .45 calibre automatic Luger pistol, first entered a chemist's , shop where he killed the proprietor, j Maurice Cohen, as he attempted to escape. Unruh then ran up the stairs and killed Mr. Cohen's wife and her mother with two shots. Running into the street, he killed a man with one shot and then walked over to a motor-car, poked the pistol in a window and fired one shot which killed the man at the Vheel. Next Unruh Walked across the street to a barber's shop,

fired two shots and killed the proprietor. He then ran into a house and shot and wounded a mother and her son. Running back into the street, Unruh fired at all persons in range, killing six and wounding one with ten shots. Police cars raced up the street firing at Unruh, who ran into a house and barricaded himself- on the second floor. The police riddled the room with bullets and then threw 25 tear gas bombs through a window. Unruh returned the police fire for a few minutes and then staggered' from the room, calling: "I give up. Don't shoot." Stumbling down the stairs he fell into the arms of the police, Unruh saw three years' service with the American Army in Europe. He is described by neighbours as "very religious, even to the point of being a fanatic." He always carried a Bible. The police had to resist an angry mob of about 1000 who wanted to lynch Unruh.