Standard Gravure shooting

Infobox civilian attack
title = Standard Gravure shooting


caption =
location = Louisville, Kentucky, United States
coordinates =
date = Start date|1989|09|14
time = 8:30-9.00 a.m.
timezone =
type = Mass murder, murder-suicide,
fatalities = 9 (including the perpetrator)
injuries = 12
perp = Joseph Thomas Wesbecker
weapons = AK-47, SIG Sauer pistol (9mm)

The Standard Gravure shooting occurred on September 14 1989 when Joseph Wesbecker entered Standard Gravure, his workplace, and killed eight people, injured 12, and committed suicide after a history of suicidal ideation.

Background

tandard Gravure

Standard Gravure was a major Louisville, Kentucky printing company founded in 1922. Reduced revenues led to an employee wage freeze in 1982, and in 1986 the company was sold. Standard Gravure's customers were retailers, many of which were in the process of going out of business, and at the same time, paper shortages were occurring in the marketplace. It was a time of cutbacks, stress and difficulty.

The shooter

Joseph Thomas Wesbecker, whose father, a construction worker, died in a fall, when he was a mere 13 months old, was born on April 27, 1942. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2DB1E3BF934A2575AC0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 Survivors of Shooting and Gunman's Relatives Ponder Sad Riddles, "The New York Times"] (September 17, 1989)] After his father's death he was raised as an only child by his mother Martha, herself only 16 years old at that time, and her family, though he was often passed from place to place during his early childhood days, and at one time deposited in an orphanage for almost a year. [http://www.healyprozac.com/Trials/Fentress/background.htm 'Let Them Eat Prozac' a summary of the background, events, and subsequent trial over whether Prozac played a role in the killings] ] Kelleher, Michael D.: [http://books.google.de/books?id=JiQUkwBnzgYC&pg=PA57&dq=joseph+wesbecker&sig=ACfU3U3tSXaqMbUufusi7Wzrn1P5mzVKCA#PPA56,M1 Profiling the Lethal Employee] ] His grandfather, to whom he felt closely attached, died when he was four.
As Joseph Wesbecker was a rather poor student he dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, but he later managed to earn a general equivalency diploma. In 1960 he started to work as a pressman at a printing plant and married one year later. With his wife he had two sons, James and Joseph.In 1971, finally, he moved to Standard Gravure, where he soon earned a reputation as determined, hard-working, loyal and reliable worker
The year 1978 marked the beginning of the downward slope of Wesbecker's life. His marriage ended in a divorce and a bitter battle over custody and support for his two sons ensued. It was also the year he admitted himself for the first time to a hospital to seek psychiatric treatment. [http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wb8LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cVYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3936,4855278&dq=joseph+wesbecker Records show killer having mental problems, "The Victoria Advocate"] (September 24, 1989)] In 1983 Wesbecker married again, though the liaison was rather short-lived and divorced one year later. As a consequence he bacame increasingly reclusive and suicidal, separated from most of his family members and lived an overall lonely life, in whose center his work remained.
After the selling of Standard Gravure and the subsequent management change in 1986, Wesbecker was assigned to a mechanical folder. Soon thereafter he complained about stress and overstrainment and asked to be placed on his old job, but his request was declined, wherefore he grew increasingly hostile against the new management, grew wary of conspiracies aimed to harass him, and began to complain about policy changes at the company. He also complained that exposure to toluene at work caused him memory loss, dizziness and "blackout spells".
The hostility culminated in May 1987, when Wesbecker filed a complaint with Jefferson County Human Relations Commission, charging that he was harassed and discriminated for his psychologial state and deliberately put under stressful conditions. The following examination indeed diagnosed that Wesbecker suffered from depression and manic depression, thus substantiating his claim of discrimination, and he was put on Prozac.
In August 1988 Wesbecker stopped working and was finally put on a long-term disability leave in February 1989, though there was also agreement to reemploy him as soon as he recovered sufficiently. Between August 1988 and May 1989 Wesbecker bought several weapons, among them the AK-47 and pistol he later used in the shooting. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE5DF1539F935A2575AC0A96F948260 Disturbed Past of Killer of 7 Is Unraveled, "The New York Times"] (September 16, 1989)] Shortly before the shooting at Standard Gravure, where he showed up the last time on September 13, Wesbecker presumably received a letter from the company, announcing the cancelation of his disability income. [ [http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CAgPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B4QDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7096,75200&dq=joseph+wesbecker Unresolved traumas lead to tragedies, psychotherapist says, "The Deseret News"] (September 16, 1989)]

Psychiatric history

Joseph Wesbecker had a long history of psychiatric illness and was treated for it in hospitals at least three times between 1978 and 1987. He was diagnosed to suffer from alternating episodes of deep depression and manic depression, was beset, among others, by confusion, anger and anxiety and made several attempts to commit suicide. Hospital records also suggested that Wesbecker posed a threat to himself and others.
According to CBS's 60 Minutes, "In 1984, five years before he took Prozac, Wesbecker's medical records show that he had this conversation with a doctor. Have you ever felt like harming someone else? 'Yes,' Wesbecker said. Who? 'My foreman.' When? 'At work.' The same medical records show Wesbecker had already attempted suicide 12 to 15 times." ["CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY WANTS TO BAN PROZAC" CBS: 60 MINUTES (7:00 PM ET) October 27, 1991, Sunday, CBS News Transcripts via LexisNexis]
In the years prior to the shooting Wesbecker more than once threatened to "kill a bunch of people" or to bomb Standard Gravure and at one point considered to hire an assassin to kill several executives of the company. Apparently he even discussed these things with his wife before their divorce. When he left Standard Gravure in August 1988 he told other workers that he would come back, wipe out the place and get even with the company and shortly before the shooting he told one of his aunts that he was upset about things at work and said they will get paid back, but as he said these things all the time, she didn't take the threat too serious.
One of the employees at Standard Gravure said after the shooting: "This guy's been talking about this for a year. He's been talking about guns and Soldier of Fortune magazine. He's paranoid, and he thought everyone was after him." [ [http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uL8LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cVYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4568,2889251&dq=joseph+wesbecker Slayings in Kentucky, "The Victoria Advocate"] (September 15, 1989)]

The shooting

Wesbecker had worked for Standard Gravure for 17 years, but had been on disability leave since spring due to mental illness. On September 14, 1989, Wesbecker entered the plant at 8:30 a.m. armed with an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle and several other firearms. He walked around the plant for thirty minutes firing at employees, wounding twelve and killing eight and himself.

Victims

*Richard Barger, 54
*Kenneth Fentress, 45
*William Ganote, 46
*James Husband, 47
*Sharon Needy, 49
*Paul Salle, 59
*Lloyd White, 42
*James F. Wible Sr., 56

Aftermath

Because Wesbecker had started taking Prozac in August 1989, less than a month before the shooting, the wounded and the families of those killed filed suit against manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company, claiming that Wesbecker's use of Prozac contributed to his actions. The jury decided 9-3 for Lilly, a result seen by some as proof of Prozac's safety. Not until several years later was it revealed that Lilly had arranged a clandestine settlement with the plaintiffs in exchange for setting legal precedent. See Fentress v. Eli Lilly.

Wesbecker is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

References

#cite encyclopedia | ency=The Encyclopedia of Louisville | edition=1 | year=2001 | article=Standard Gravure

External links

* [http://stevelutzphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/617731#27833345 Photo of Wesbecker's grave]