Larry Gene Ashbrook

Infobox Mass Murderer
name = Larry Gene Ashbrook


image_size =
caption =
birthname = Larry Gene Ashbrook
occupation = Unemployed
birth = 1952
location =
death = September 16, 1999
deathplace = Fort Worth, Texas, United States
cause = Suicide
penalty =
date = September 15 1999
targets = Wedgwood Baptist Church
locations = Fort Worth, Texas, United States
fatalities = 7
injuries = 7
weapons = Ruger P85 (9mm) AMT Backup (.380 ACP)

Larry Gene Ashbrook (1952 – September 16, 1999) was an American spree killer. On September 15 1999, he murdered seven people and injured a further seven at a post See You at the Pole Rally featuring a concert by Christian rock group Forty Days at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Ashbrook then committed suicide.

Shooting

Ashbrook interrupted a teen prayer rally at the Wedgwood Baptist Church spouting anti-Baptist rhetoric before opening fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and a .380-caliber handgun. He reloaded several times during the shooting; three empty magazines were found at the scene. Seven people were killed, four of whom were teenagers (a 14 year old boy, two 14 year old girls and a 17 year old boy). Three people sustained major injuries while four others received relatively minor injuries.

At Ashbrook's home, police found a pipe, end caps to enclose the pipe, gunpowder and a fuse. Ashbrook had thrown a pipe bomb into the church, but this exploded vertically, and did not injure anyone.

Personality and mental state

Nine years before the shooting, Ashbrook's mother died. This reportedly sent him into a cycle of erratic and frightening behavior. Ashbrook lived for many years with his father, Jack D. Ashbrook. Across the street from the Ashbrooks' home, neighbors said they saw Ashbrook treat his father violently but were afraid to report it. City newspaper-editor Stephen Kaye, whom Ashbrook had visited days before the shooting, described him as being "the opposite of someone who'd be concerned about", saying he "couldn't have been any nicer".

However, his neighbors had an entirely different view of him, describing him as strange and violent. Investigators at his house discovered that he had virtually destroyed the interior of his house, and remarked that he seemed very troubled.

Police investigating the shooting could find no solid motive for the crime. In the months before the shooting, people who knew Ashbrook say he became increasingly paranoid, certain that he was being framed for serial murder and other crimes that he did not commit. He also feared that the CIA were targeting him, and he reported psychological warfare, assaults by co-workers and being drugged by the police. Just days before the shooting he voiced these concerns to a newspaper, saying "I want someone to tell my story, no one will listen to me; no one will believe me."

Victims

External links

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E1D6133CF93BA2575AC0A96F958260 Death in a Church: The Faith, "The New York Times"] (September 18, 1999)
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE0D7133CF93BA2575AC0A96F958260 Death in a Church: The Overview, "The New York Times"] (September 18, 1999)
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E1D9133CF93BA2575AC0A96F958260 Death in a Church: The Politics, "The New York Times"] (September 18, 1999)
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01EFDA133CF93BA2575AC0A96F958260 Death in a Church: The Killer, "The New York Times"] (September 18, 1999)
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DEEDC123CF934A2575AC0A96F958260 Death in a Church: The Overview, "The New York Times"] (September 17, 1999)
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804EFDD123CF934A2575AC0A96F958260 Death in a Church: The Victims, "The New York Times"] (September 17, 1999)
* [http://edition.cnn.com/US/9909/16/church.shooting.01/ Church gunman kills 7, self, in Texas, "CNN"] (September 16, 1999)