Spree killer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A spree killer, also known as a rampage killer, is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on his victims. This is a slightly ambiguous term, with similarities to mass murderer and serial killer. Spree killings tend to be spontaneous acts of violence whereas mass murder and serial killings have connotations of being pre-planned.
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders." Serial killers are different in that they have cooling off periods between attacks, while mass murderers typically stick to one location.
The worst spree killing was committed by Woo Bum-Kon (1982) when he killed 57 and then himself, using grenades and a high powered rifle. After that, the second and third deadliest examples would be Martin Bryant (Port Arthur massacre, 1996), using two semi-automatic weapons, a CAR-15 and an L1A1 SLR, that accounted for 35 deaths; and Mutsuo Toi (Tsuyama massacre, 1938) using an old Japanese rifle and swords, resulting in 30 fatalities.
One form of spree killing that garners particularly large amounts of media attention are those that occur in school killings, such as the Red Lake High School massacre in 2005.
[edit] See also
- Running amok
- Going postal
- Homicide
- Mass murder
- Serial killer
- Thrill killing
- Infamous Australian mass murders
[edit] Further reading
- Pantziarka, P. 2000, Lone Wolf, Virgin Publishing ISBN 0-7535-0437-5. This book looks at individual cases, including Thomas Hamilton, Martin Bryant and Mark Barton. It also discusses the wider social context, psychological factors and political fall-out from spree killing.
