La Trobe University shooting

The La Trobe University shooting was a murder that took place in the Eagle Bar at La Trobe University Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 1999-08-03 in which one man was killed and a woman was seriously injured.

The incident took place at 11:05 am when a man walked into the Eagle Bar on the La Trobe University Bundoora campus armed with a .38-calibre revolver and shot and wounded a young woman before shooting bar manager Leon Capraro, killing him instantly. He then attempted to shoot at others but was restrained by patrons until police came and arrested him.

The killer was thirty-eight year old Jonathon Brett Horrocks of Inverloch in Victoria's southeast. Brett, as he was commonly known, had been sacked from his job at the bar in February of that year for allegedly stealing alcohol. He was was heard on one occasion prior to the killing speaking about his "unfair dismissal" and the "psychological damage" it had caused him in a mocking manner, as he waited for the results of an application for an unfair dismissal hearing to come through . He was wearing acid-wash bogan jeans and a pair of red and yellow leather jester shoes at the time of making the complaint, which was a Saturday night in the kitchen of his college apartment.

It is said that he committed the murder after his unfair dismissal charge was dismissed. He was charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 23 years. He described the incident as an "orgy of destruction".

Today there is a plaque 100 metres from the Eagle Bar in memorium of the victim Leon Capraro and an award in his name is awarded annually to the best Tourism and Hospitality student.

References

* [http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s41308.htm Fatal shooting at La Trobe University]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s41230.htm La Trobe University shooting]
* [http://venus.soci.niu.edu/~archives/ABOLISH/apr01/1042.html]