In a nutshell:
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"He was a young ex-college student who'd gone to (South America) to be with his family. In the Rev. Jim Jones he was looking for the utopian sort of life it seemed they had down there," attorney Marcus Topel said.
[...]
Topel represented Tyrone Mitchell, who shot himself Friday, during a grand jury investigation of the Jonestown massacre. A girlfriend said the victims included Mitchell's parents, grandmother, four sisters and a brother.
"He came back without a family and his belief in this guy )Jones) completely shattered. You wonder what sort of distress creates" attacks like Friday's---"in this case you don't have to look very far," Topel said.
[...]
"Who knows that when he was sitting in his house, he wasn't recreating what happened down there," Topel said. "This is not to diminish the horror of what happened, but it's sort of a footnote to another horror story."
Topel called the deaths of Shala and Mitchell "another two lives that Jim Jones has claimed."
[...]
Mitchell was seeing a dentist in Georgetown, Guyana on Nov. 18, 1978, when 912 of Jones' followers drank poisoned punch, according to Topel. His account contradicted that of Mitchell's fiancee, Mary Lou Hill, 29, who said the two never carried through plans to go to Guyana.
"It's just a great quirk of fate he escapes mass death and destruction only to recreate it himself five years later, Toel added.
Deputy Police Chief Lew Ritter said Mitchell was "a well-known suspect with the Newton Police Division for his irrational behavior...and as a user of PCP," a hallucinogenic known to cause wildly aggressive behavior.
But Detective Steve Morgan, who found the body at about 6 p.m., noted no drugs were found in the apartment. He also said Saturday that there were no drug-related cases on Mitchell's short police record.
[..]
Ms. Hill said earlier that passport problems prevented Mitchell from going to Jonestown. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
February 26, 1984, Youngstown Vindicator - AP, page 10A, School Sniper's Memories Cited,
February 25, 1984, The Free Lance-Star, page 1, School sniper's parents died at Jonestown, by Lee Siegel, AP Writer,
February 25, 1984, Ocala [FL] Star-Banner - AP, page 1, L.A. Schoolyard Sniper Kills One, Wounds 10,
February 25, 1984, New York Times, Girl killed, 11 shot at school on coast; suspect found dead,
February 25, 1984, Ottawa Citizen – AP, page 2, Sniper opens fire on playground,
February 25, 1984, The Indiana Gazette - AP, page 1, Schoolyard sniper kills pupil, self,
February 25, 1984, The Indiana Gazette - AP, page 4, Supervisor shot, tried to help girl,
February 25, 1984, The Sun - AP, page A12, Jonestown Survivor Kills 1 Student, Wounds 12,
February 25, 1984, The Daily Times [Portsmouth, Ohio] AP, page 1, Gunman Dead After Killing Girl, Wounding 12 at School,
February 25, 1984, Spokane Chronicle - AP, page 1, Sniper Kills Child, Wounds 13 In LA,
February 25, 1984, Spokane Chronicle - AP, page 2, Gunfire kept would-be hero from reaching girl,
February 25, 1984, Lewiston Journal - AP, page 6, Sniper Takes Own Life, by Lee Siegel,
February 25, 1984, Free Lance-Star - AP, page 1, School Sniper's Parents Died At Jonestown, by Lee Siegel,
February 25, 1984, Miami Herald, page 1A, Sniper Kills 1, Hurts 13 at Grade School, 625 words
February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, Sniper Fire Kills 1, Injures 13 at School; Children on Playground Flee in Panic; L.A. Police Find Gunman Dead in Home, by Jerry Belcher,
February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, 'Almost Like a Guilt'; Sniper Escaped Jonestown but Not Its Horror, by Eric Malnic,
February 25, 1984, San Diego Union, The (CA) L.A. sniper hurts 11, kills pupil and self, 827 wordsFebruary 25, 1984, Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Los Angeles Sniper Kills Child at School, Wounds 11 Others, 650 words
February 25, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 4A, Playground sniper kills one and self,
February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, 'He's Been Wild All His Life', 238 words
February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Schoolyard Sniper - Child Dead, 13 Others Hurt in LA Attack, 582 words
February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sniper at School Kills Girl, Injures 13; Suspect Commits Suicide, Los Angeles Police Say 559 words
February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1, 'Almost Like a Guilt': Sniper Escaped Jonestown but Not Its Horror, by Eric Malnic,
February 25, 1984, NBC News, Schoolyard Sniper Is Found Dead When Police Break Into His House, Stock Footage,
February 26, 1984, The Courier - UPI, page 2A, Girl Killed, 13 Injured; Mystery sniper sprays LA schoolyard,
February 26, 1984, New York Times, Schoolyard Killer: Cult and Drugs Seen As Clues, by Robert Lindsey,
February 26, 1984, Rome News-Tribune - AP, page A1, School Sniping Linked To Suicides At Guyana,
February 26, 1984, Spartansburg Herald-Journal - AP, page A10, Survivor Of Jonestown Suicide May Have Been Reliving Horror, [Tyrone Mitchell]
February 26, 1984, New York Times, Schoolyard Killer: Cult and Drugs Seen As Clues, by Robert Lindsey,
February 26, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 8A, Was Sniper Reliving Jonestown Suicide?,
February 26, 1984, The Register-Guard [Eugene, Oregon] AP, page 8A, Tragedy stalks cult's survivors; Sniper one of them,
February 26, 1984, The Register-Guard [Eugene, Oregon] AP, page 9A, Sniper attack 'sort of a footnote',
February 26, 1984, Gadsden Times - AP, page A2, Killer May Have Relived Jonestown,
February 26, 1984, Ocala Star-Banner - AP, page A2, Los Angeles Schoolyard Sniper Reliving Horror,
February 26, 1984, The Sunday Union - AP, page A2, Child Killed By Schoolyard Sniper,
February 26, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 8A, Was Sniper Reliving Jonestown Suicide?,
February 26, 1984, Youngstown Vindicator - AP, page 10A, School Sniper's Memories Cited .
February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, Horror of Jonestown Deaths Tied to School Sniper, by Kathy Horak,
February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, Tragedies Hardest On Survivors .Students Face Difficult Task of Returning to Classes, by Sue Manning,
February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, 'Peoples Temples' Violence Spawns Troubled Legacy,
February 26, 1984, Miami Herald, page 6A, Police May Never Know' School Sniper's Motive, 479 words
February 26, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A3, Aftermath of School Sniping; Stunned Parents and Neighbors Ask, 'Why?', by Peter H. King and H.G. Reza,
February 26, 1984, San Diego Union, L.A. sniper may have been reliving Jonestown horror,
February 26, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, School Aide: Sniper Headed Him Off, .534 words
February 26, 1984, Mohave Daily Miner UPI, Jonestown Specter Haunted Sniper,
February 27, 1985, Los Angeles Times page C4, Trying to Prevent Tragedies,
February 27, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A5, 'God Bless Shala in Heaven'; Schoolgirl Victim of Sniper Is Mourned, by Mathis Chazanov and Belma Johnson,
February 27, 1985, Los Angeles Times page C1-C2, Classmates of Sniper Victim Seek Solace; Strangers Pray, Try to Comfort 3 Still Hospitalized, by Mathis Chazanov and Belma Johnson,
February 27, 1984, Los Angeles Times - AP, page A1, Photo Standalone 1 -- No Title,
February 27, 1984, NBC News, Students Return to Class, Following Sniping Attack,
February 27, 1984, Ottawa Citizen - Knight-Ridder, page 2, Cult influence blamed for tragedy,
February 27, 1984, Ottawa Citizen - Knight-Ridder, page 3, Lawyer Blames Rev. Jim Jones for Los Angeles sniper tragedy,
February 28, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Scars That Don't Show, 424 words
February 28, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sniper's Fire Still Echoes at School, 80 words
February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
February 28, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page C4, A Sad Puzzle,
February 28, 1984, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, page 9A, School sniper survivor of Jonestown suicides,
February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, page 20A, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
February 28, 1984, New York Times, Students Reassured after Sniping Attack,
March 1, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier, page 6, 1,000 Attend Service; Pastor Says Slain Girl's Death Gift,
March 1, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B3, Police Probing Chain of Events in Sniper Attack: Dept. Inquiry Also Will Focus on Handling of Mental Patient Cases by Officers, by Sandy Banks,
March 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Grief-stricken family, friends say goodbye to sniper victim, 264 words
March 1, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, Schoolmates, Kin Jam Rites for Sniper's Victim, 300 words
March 4, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Nightmares plague pupils after deadly sniper attack, 484 words
March 5, 1984, Palm Beach Post, page 2A, Lawyer Says He Didn't Represent Man,
March 5, 1984, St. Joseph Gazette, page 6A, Attorney Mistaken About School Sniper,
March 5, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Attorney retracts tie with accused schoolyard sniper, 274 words
March 12, 1984, Jet, Sniping At L. A. School Still Haunts Young Pupils,
March 13, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1-B4, Mental Time Bombs; How System Fails to Catch the Troubled, by Sandy Banks,
March 14, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B2, The Region: Supervisors Delay Action on Fired Black,
_________________________________________________________________________________February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
February 28, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page C4, A Sad Puzzle,
February 28, 1984, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, page 9A, School sniper survivor of Jonestown suicides,
February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, page 20A, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
February 28, 1984, New York Times, Students Reassured after Sniping Attack,
March 1, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier, page 6, 1,000 Attend Service; Pastor Says Slain Girl's Death Gift,
March 1, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B3, Police Probing Chain of Events in Sniper Attack: Dept. Inquiry Also Will Focus on Handling of Mental Patient Cases by Officers, by Sandy Banks,
March 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Grief-stricken family, friends say goodbye to sniper victim, 264 words
March 1, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, Schoolmates, Kin Jam Rites for Sniper's Victim, 300 words
March 4, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Nightmares plague pupils after deadly sniper attack, 484 words
March 5, 1984, Palm Beach Post, page 2A, Lawyer Says He Didn't Represent Man,
March 5, 1984, St. Joseph Gazette, page 6A, Attorney Mistaken About School Sniper,
March 5, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Attorney retracts tie with accused schoolyard sniper, 274 words
March 12, 1984, Jet, Sniping At L. A. School Still Haunts Young Pupils,
March 13, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1-B4, Mental Time Bombs; How System Fails to Catch the Troubled, by Sandy Banks,
March 14, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B2, The Region: Supervisors Delay Action on Fired Black,
March 14, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) No drugs, little alcohol found in killer's body, 143 words
March 29, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A-1, Time for Healing Sniper Victim's Courage, Special Funds Help Soften the Pain, by Edward J. Boyer,
March 29, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A-1, Time for Healing Sniper Victim's Courage, Special Funds Help Soften the Pain, by Edward J. Boyer,
April 14, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page 24, Man Shot in Sniper Attack on School Dies,
April 15, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Victim of L.A. schoolyard sniper dies, 164 words
April 15, 1984, Eugene Register-Guard, Man wounded by sniper dies,
April 16, 1984, New York Times - AP, School Sniping Victim Dies,
April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1, Dies From Sniper Wounds: A 'Forgotten' Victim Leaves Wealth of Loving Memories, by Marita Hernandez,
April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A5, Friends Don't Forget Victim of School Sniper, by Marita Hernandez,
April 15, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Victim of L.A. schoolyard sniper dies, 164 words
April 15, 1984, Eugene Register-Guard, Man wounded by sniper dies,
April 16, 1984, New York Times - AP, School Sniping Victim Dies,
April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1, Dies From Sniper Wounds: A 'Forgotten' Victim Leaves Wealth of Loving Memories, by Marita Hernandez,
April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A5, Friends Don't Forget Victim of School Sniper, by Marita Hernandez,
May 25, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Mother of slain girl sues L.A., school board over sniper attack, by City News Service, 373 words
May 26, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, $5.5M Suit Filed in School Shooting, 134 words
May 27, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Family of L.A. Schoolgirl Killed by Sniper Files $5.5 MILLION Suit, 241 words
July 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Girl injured in sniper fire leaves hospital, 263 words
July 19, 1984, Evening Tribune (San Diego, CA) Shootings here set grim record, 740 words
December 6, 1984, page B2, Los Angeles Times, Mother of Slain Schoolgirl Sues District,
December 6, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Short takes, 1,049 words
January 9, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page B11, Second Suit Filed in Sniper's Slaying of Girl, 11, on Playground at L.A. School,
February 24, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page A3-A5, Schoolyard Shooting Tragedy Spurs Plan to Provide Experts; County to Assist Police With Mentally Ill, by Sandy Banks and Matita Hernandez,
November 26, 1985, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Children hurt in school attack, Judge dismisses charges in sniping suit, 254 words
December 3, 1987, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Researchers find post-trauma disorders in children, 358 words
January 21, 1998, Los Angeles Times, page A3, Woman Imprisoned for '79 School Slayings Withdraws Parole Request; Crime: Brenda Spencer acts just minutes before hearing, She killed two and wounded nine in San Diego sniper attack when she was 16, by Tom Gorman,
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February 25, 1984, Ocala [FL] Star-Banner - AP, page 1, L.A. Schoolyard Sniper Kills One, Wounds 10,
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February 25, 1984, New York Times, page A6, Girl Killed, 11 Shot at School on Coast, by Robert Lindsey,
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24— A sniper fired repeatedly into a crowded schoolyard in south-central Los Angeles today, killing a 10-year-old girl and injuring at least 11 other people, three critically.
Almost four hours after the shootings began at 2:23 P.M., members of a Los Angeles Police Department paramilitary unit entered a home across the street from the schoolyard and found the body of a man they said was the sniper. They identified him as Tyrone Mitchell, 28 years old.
The police said he appeared to have killed himself. Before entering, the police fired at least 16 canisters of tear gas into the house.
Police officials said friends of Mr. Mitchell had told them he had been a member of the People's Temple and had been in Guyana the day that hundreds of followers of the Rev. Jim Jones died in mass murders and suicides. He reportedly escaped death because he was away from Jonestown on a trip to Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, when the deaths occurred in November 1978.
Police officials said his parents and at least two other close relatives were believed to have died at Jonestown.
The girl killed by the sniper today was identified as Shala Eubanks. The injured included nine children and two adults, according to Lew Ritter, a deputy Los Angeles police chief.
The shooting occurred as pupils were leaving for the day from the 49th Street School in the heart of a sprawling black and Hispanic community not far from the site of the 1965 Watts riots.
Nearby Houses Evacuated
The police special weapons and tactics team evacuated homes around the house they surrounded. Police officials said no one had been inside the house except Mr. Mitchell. The police dispatched a team of officers specially trained to deal with barricaded suspects, but they failed to talk him into surrendering.
The police officials said that Mr. Mitchell had a reputation in his neighborhood as a habitual user of the drug PCP and that relatives had told them he was under the influence of drugs today. They said they had been unable so far to confirm the reports of Mr. Mitchell's connections with Jonestown.
Witnesses said there had been about 100 children in the schoolyard when the shooting began.
They said the shots rang out without any warning and children began to fall. Those who were not hit ran screaming in search of shelter. The injured were taken to hospitals nearby.
Some Injured Are Listed
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 (UPI)-- The critically wounded victims at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital were listed as Anna Gonzalez, 8, Steve Gomez, 9, and Carlos Lopez Bernal, 24, who was walking by the school when the sniper started shooting.
The wounded children at Orthopaedic Hospital were identified as Myra Cruz, Iran Macias and Alicia Pena, all 10, and Latreece Williams, 11. A playground supervisor, Albert Jones, 50, was also listed there as wounded. Others injured were believed to have been treated and released.
Dessi McClain, who lives across the street from the school, said she first thought the shots were a car backfiring. "But then it was so many shots," she said. "The kids were running out of the school screaming and hollering. They were running across the street.
"The teachers were trying to get the kids out of the yard, to get them away from the school. The shooting was going on all the time. It just kept coming: Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Bea Ransome, the school's office manager, said: "The kids were screaming, but they were quickly brought into the school building by adults in the yard. When I first heard shooting I didn't know what was going on. Then I saw dozens of kids down on the ground, but most of them weren't hurt, they were just trying to hide."
Seven ambulances were sent to the school. Some of the injured students were flown out by police helicopter. Other students were evacuated from the premises safely.
A Fire Department paramedic, Jack Fry, said he and his partner drove their ambulance onto the schoolyard and started pulling children, some hiding behind trees and trash cans, many of them crying, into the vehicle to take them out of the line of fire.
"We pulled the kids, injured or not, into the ambulance," he said. "We just wanted to get them safe. We didn't know what could happen."
A neighbor of Mr. Mitchell's, Ronnie Love, who was on a high school track team with him, said the dead man had been "wild all his life."
"He had a short fuse," he added. "He could go off at any time."
Mr. Mitchell's uncle, Willie Mitchell, said his nephew had a "history of problems." Deputy Chief Ritter described Mr. Mitchell as "a well-known suspect in the Newton Street area."
"Many of the officers have dealt with him before," Mr. Ritter said. :He has a history of being involved with drugs, particularly PCP."
photo of officers at home of sniper (page 6)
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February 25, 1984, Ottawa Citizen – AP, page 2, Sniper opens fire on playground,
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February 25, 1984, The Indiana Gazette - AP, page 1, Schoolyard sniper kills pupil, self,
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February 25, 1984, The Indiana Gazette - AP, page 4, Supervisor shot, tried to help girl,
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February 25, 1984, The Sun - AP, page A12, Jonestown Survivor Kills 1 Student, Wounds 12,
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February 25, 1984, The Daily Times [Portsmouth, Ohio] AP, page 1, Gunman Dead After Killing Girl, Wounding 12 at School,
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February 25, 1984, Spokane Chronicle - AP, page 1, Sniper Kills Child, Wounds 13 In LA,
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February 25, 1984, Spokane Chronicle - AP, page 2, Gunfire kept would-be hero from reaching girl,
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February 25, 1984, Lewiston Journal - AP, page 6, Sniper Takes Own Life, by Lee Siegel,
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February 25, 1984, Free Lance-Star - AP, page 1, School Sniper's Parents Died At Jonestown, by Lee Siegel,
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February 25, 1984, Miami Herald, page 1A, Sniper Kills 1, Hurts 13 at Grade School, 625 words
February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times. page A1, Sniper Fire Kills 1, Injures 13 at School: Children on Playground Flee in Panic; L.A. Police Find Gunman Dead in Home, by Jerry Belcher,
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February 25, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 4A, Playground sniper kills one and self,
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February 25, 1984, Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Los Angeles Sniper Kills Child at School, Wounds 11 Others,650 words
LOS ANGELES -- A sniper opened fire on a crowded elementary school playground yesterday, killing a young girl and wounding 11 other people before killing himself in the nearby house where he was holed up, authorities said.Heavily armed police found the man's body when they stormed the house nearly four hours after the shootings, which began as classes at the 49th Street Elementary School were letting out for the weekend."He took his own life," said police spokesman Sergio Cruz.... 650 words
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February 25, 1984, San Diego Union, The (CA) L.A. sniper hurts 11, kills pupil and self, 827 words
A man whose parents died in the Jonestown murder-suicide opened fire on dozens of children leaving an elementary school yesterday afternoon, killing a little girl and injuring 11 other people before slaying himself. Police said Tyrone Mitchell, 28, who fired the shots from inside a two-story house across the street from the school, had a history of drug use and "irrational behavior."He remained barricaded inside the home for nearly four hours, while SWAT officers bombarded the..
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February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, 'He's Been Wild All His Life', 238 words
Tyrone Mitchell, who opened fire on a schoolyard yesterday afternoon, killing one student and wounding 13 other people, was a sometime carpenter and roofer with a history of drug abuse and erratic behavior.Friends said his parents, sister and a cousin died five years ago in the Jonestown murder-suicide."He's been wild all his life," said Ronnie Love, a lifelong neighbor and teammate of Mitchell on the track team at Jefferson High School. "He had a short fuse - he could go off at...
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February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Schoolyard Sniper - Child Dead, 13 Others Hurt in LA Attack, 582 words
A sniper whose parents apparently died in the Jonestown murder-suicide opened fire on dozens of children leaving an elementary school yesterday afternoon, killing a girl and injuring 13 other people. Police said the suspect killed himself a few minutes later.Officers said Tyrone Mitchell, 28, who had a history of drug use and ''irrational behavior," fired the shots from a second-floor window in his white and blue house across the street from the school playground.At dusk,..
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February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sniper at School Kills Girl, Injures 13; Suspect Commits Suicide, Los Angeles Police Say 559 words
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February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, 'Almost Like a Guilt'; Sniper Escaped Jonestown but Not Its Horror, by Eric Malnic,
"A lot of things make this understandable," Marcus Topel said quietly.
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February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, Sniper Fire Kills 1, Injures 13 at School; Children on Playground Flee in Panic; L.A. Police Find Gunman Dead in Home, by Jerry Belcher,
A sniper fired bullet after bullet into the crowded playground of a South-Central Los Angeles elementary school as classes let out Friday, killing one girl and wounding 11 other children and two adults.
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February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, School Sniper Kills 1, Injures 13, by Jerry Belcher,
A sniper fired bullet after bullet into the crowded playground of a South-Central Los Angeles elementary school as classes let out Friday, killing one girl and wounding 11 other children and two adults.
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February 25, 1984, NBC News, Schoolyard Sniper Is Found Dead When Police Break Into His House, Stock Footage,
www.nbcuniversalarchives.com/nbcuni/clip/5112524765_s07.do
STILL OF 28 YR OLD SNIPER TYRONE MITCHELL WHO SHOT HIMSELF SEEN. ...EVER SINCE HIS FAMILY WAS KILLED IN JONESTOWN, GUYANA.
SCHOOLYARD SNIPER IS FOUND DEAD WHEN POLICE BREAK INTO HIS HOUSE
AMBULANCE WITH SIREN DRIVES DOWN STREET. WOUNDED CHILD IS PLACED IN AMBULANCE ON STRETCHER ON 2-24-84. THE FAMILY OF 10 YR OLD EUBANKS CRIES & GRIEVES OVER HER DEATH. POLICE CROUCH BEHIND POLICE CAR OUTSIDE SNIPERS HOUSE ACROSS FROM SCHOOL. STILL OF 28 YR OLD SNIPER TYRONE MITCHELL WHO SHOT HIMSELF SEEN. SNIPERS UNCLE WILLIE MITCHELL SAYS TYRONE HAD A PROBLEM EVER SINCE HIS FAMILY WAS KILLED IN JONESTOWN GUYANA. EXTERIORS OF TYRONE'S HOUSE AT DUSK SEEN. POLICE FIRE TEAR GAS INTO HOUSE. POLICE BRING BODY OF SNIPER TYRONE OUT OF HOUSE. CAPTAIN RICK BATSON OF L.A. POLICE SAYS SEVERAL GUNS WERE FOUND INSIDE HOUSE. GUNS ARE PLACED ON CAR BY POLICE. TA Producers: NBC
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February 26, 1984, The Courier - UPI, page 2A, Girl Killed, 13 Injured; Mystery sniper sprays LA schoolyard,
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February 26, 1984, New York Times, Schoolyard Killer: Cult and Drugs Seen As Clues, by Robert Lindsey,
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25— Police officials said today that they were still not sure why a former member of the People's Temple cult opened fire on a playground full of children Friday, but they speculated that the reason was rooted in drugs, alcohol and dark memories of the Rev. Jim Jones. "We really don't know what his motive was," Sgt. Tony Sanchez of the Los Angeles Police Department said, "but we've been told he had a reputation for acting irrationally sometimes."
A 10-year-old girl, Shala Eubanks, died in the fusillade of rifle shots and shotgun blasts that ripped across the schoolyard for more than 10 minutes just as classes were recessing for the day.
12 Others Injured
Ten other children and two adults were injured by gunfire or shattered glass. Three of the children were reported in serious condition in hospitals today. Witnesses said that there had been dozens of children in the schoolyard when the shooting began.
Nearly four hours after the shooting, heavily armed police officers fired several cannisters of tear gas into a two-story frame house across the street from the school, stormed in and found the body of a 28-year-old man.
Earlier, a team of police officers specially trained to deal with barricaded suspects had unsuccessfully tried to talk the man into leaving the house.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said today that a check of his fingerprints had confirmed the identification of the man as Tyrone Mitchell, a resident of the neighborhood.
Self-Inflicted Wound
After an autopsy today, the coroner's office said that Mr. Mitchell had died from a gunshot wound in his head, apparently self-inflicted. Tests will be conducted over the next few days to determine if he was under the influence of drugs when he died, the coroner's office said.
Detectives said they found two shotguns and an AR-15 semiautomatic high-powered rifle near Mr. Mitchell's body.
Neighbors and friends of Mr. Mitchell said he was drinking heavily before the shooting and that he often used PCP, a powerful, mood-altering drug whose street name is angel dust. It is common in the low-income community where the shooting occurred, the neighbors and friends said.
Fined for Firing Rifle
They said he had a reputation for being a heavy drinker and drug user and was once fined $200 for firing his rifle into the air in a dispute with a relative. Mr. Mitchell was unemployed but periodically attended a state university in nearby Long Beach.
Marylou Hill, 29, Mr. Mitchell's fiancee, told reporters he had suffered a "nervous breakdown" and had been deeply distressed since November 1978 when his parents, four sisters and a brother died in the mass suicides and murders of more than 900 people who were followers of the Rev. Jim Jones at his South American commune, Jonestown, in Guyana.
A lawyer, Marcus Topel, who represented Mr. Mitchell at a San Francisco court hearing involving the People's Temple, said Mr. Mitchell might have died at Jonestown if he had not been at a dentist's office in Georgetown, the Guyana capital, the day the deaths occurred.
Miss Hill disputed this, saying Mr. Mitchell had been unable to reach Guyana because of "passport problems."
Racial Aspect Doubted
Today police barriers blocked access to the home where Mr. Mitchell was found dead, and to the schoolyard.
The shooting occurred at the 49th Street School in the heart of a neighborhood not far from the site of the 1965 Watts riots.
In the past the neighborhood, in south-central Los Angeles, attracted mostly blacks, but in recent years it has had a large influx of immigrants from Mexico, many of them illegal aliens. The change has created tension in the neighborhood, but police officers said that this was apparently not a factor in the shootings.
They said Mr. Mitchell, a black, appeared to have fired indiscriminately toward the school. While the child who died was black, many of the injured children were of Mexican ancestry.
photo of Shala Eubanks; photo of Tyrone Mitchell; photo of injured children
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February 26, 1984, Rome News-Tribune - AP, page A1, School Sniping Linked To Suicides At Guyana,
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February 26, 1984, Spartansburg Herald-Journal - AP, page A10, Survivor Of Jonestown Suicide May Have Been Reliving Horror, [Tyrone Mitchell]
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February 26, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 8A, Was Sniper Reliving Jonestown Suicide?,
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February 26, 1984, The Register-Guard [Eugene, Oregon] AP, page 8A, Tragedy stalks cult's survivors; Sniper one of them,
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February 26, 1984, The Register-Guard [Eugene, Oregon] AP, page 9A, Sniper attack 'sort of a footnote',
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February 26, 1984, Gadsden Times - AP, page A2, Killer May Have Relived Jonestown,
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February 26, 1984, Ocala Star-Banner - AP, page A2, Los Angeles Schoolyard Sniper Reliving Horror,
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February 26, 1984, The Sunday Union - AP, page A2, Child Killed By Schoolyard Sniper,
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February 26, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 8A, Was Sniper Reliving Jonestown Suicide?,
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February 26, 1984, Youngstown Vindicator - AP, page 10A, School Sniper's Memories Cited,
[...]
"He was a young ex-college student who'd gone to (South America) to be with his family. In the Rev. Jim Jones he was looking for the utopian sort of life it seemed they had down there," attorney Marcus Topel said.
[...]
Topel represented Tyrone Mitchell, who shot himself Friday, during a grand jury investigation of the Jonestown massacre. A girlfriend said the victims included Mitchell's parents, grandmother, four sisters and a brother.
"He came back without a family and his belief in this guy )Jones) completely shattered. You wonder what sort of distress creates" attacks like Friday's---"in this case you don't have to look very far," Topel said.
[...]
"Who knows that when he was sitting in his house, he wasn't recreating what happened down there," Topel said. "This is not to diminish the horror of what happened, but it's sort of a footnote to another horror story."
Topel called the deaths of Shala and Mitchell "another two lives that Jim Jones has claimed."
[...]
Mitchell was seeing a dentist in Georgetown, Guyana on Nov. 18, 1978, when 912 of Jones' followers drank poisoned punch, according to Topel. His account contradicted that of Mitchell's fiancee, Mary Lou Hill, 29, who said the two never carried through plans to go to Guyana.
"It's just a great quirk of fate he escapes mass death and destruction only to recreate it himself five years later, Toel added.
Deputy Police Chief Lew Ritter said Mitchell was "a well-known suspect with the Newton Police Division for his irrational behavior...and as a user of PCP," a hallucinogenic known to cause wildly aggressive behavior.
But Detective Steve Morgan, who found the body at about 6 p.m., noted no drugs were found in the apartment. He also said Saturday that there were no drug-related cases on Mitchell's short police record.
[..]
Ms. Hill said earlier that passport problems prevented Mitchell from going to Jonestown. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
[...]
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February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, Horror of Jonestown Deaths Tied to School Sniper, by Kathy Horak,
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February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, Tragedies Hardest On Survivors .Students Face Difficult Task of Returning to Classes, by Sue Manning,
February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, 'Peoples Temples' Violence Spawns Troubled Legacy,
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February 26, 1984, Miami Herald, page 6A, Police May Never Know' School Sniper's Motive, 479 words
Police said Saturday "we may never know" why a sniper opened fire on a crowded schoolyard, killing a girl and wounding 13 other people, but friends and relatives said he was tormented by the loss of his family in the mass suicide-murders at Jonestown, Guyana. Tyrone Mitchell, 28, a onetime follower of People's Temple leader Jim Jones, opened fire with a rifle and shotgun from a second-floor window across from the 49th Street Elementary School as classes were let out Friday afternoon. He... 479 words
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February 26, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A3, Aftermath of School Sniping; Stunned Parents and Neighbors Ask, 'Why?', by Peter H. King and H.G. Reza,
Things were strangely busy for a Saturday along 50th Street in South-Central Los Angeles. On the north side of the street, the worst kind of work a public school principal could ever imagine had drawn Charles Jackson to the brick elementary school on what should...
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February 26, 1984, San Diego Union, L.A. sniper may have been reliving Jonestown horror,
LOS ANGELES -- A survivor of the Peoples Temple mass suicide may have been reliving his family's deaths when he fired on a schoolyard Friday, killing a little girl and wounding 13 people before killing himself, his former attorney said yesterday. "He was a young ex-college student who'd gone to (South America) to be with his family. In the Rev. Jim Jones he was looking for the utopian sort of life it seemed they had down there," attorney Marcus Topel said.More than 900 people...564 words
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February 26, 1984, Mohave Daily Miner UPI, Jonestown Specter Haunted Sniper,
Jim Jones, opened fire with a rifle and shotgun from a second-floor window ... Marcus Topel, a San Francisco attorney who said he represented Mitchell at a ...
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February 28, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Scars That Don't Show, 424 words
Children assembled yesterday on the bullet-scarred playground, where last week a sniper killed a little girl and wounded 13 other people, to hear assurances "everything is going to be all right."A school official said 278 students stayed home - nearly four times the normal absentee rate."What happened Friday is over,"
Principal Charles Jackson told the students of the 49th Street Elementary School as he faced the two-story Victorian house where the gunman cut loose with a...
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February 28, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sniper's Fire Still Echoes at School, 80 words
Kindergarten teacher JoAnne Payne was on the phone, assuring the mother that psychologists were on hand to help her and her daughter."They're all telling me that their children are afraid," Mrs. Payne said. "One little girl hasn't slept in two days. There's a lot of anxiety. It's what you'd expect."Yesterday was the first day of school at the 49th Street Elementary School since a sniper shot and killed one student and injured 14 children and two adults Friday afternoon....
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February 28, 1984, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, page 9A, School sniper survivor of Jonestown suicides,
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A survivor of the Peoples Temple mass suicide may have been reliving the horror of his family's deaths when he fired on a schoolyard, killing a little girl and wounding 13 people before killing himself, his former attorney said Saturday.
"He was a young ex-college student who'd gone to (South America) to be with his family. In the Rev. Jim Jones he was looking for the Utopian sort of life it seemed they had down there," attorney Marcus Topel said.
More than 900 people committed suicide or were killed at Jones' Peoples Temple cult settlement at Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. Topel represented Tyrone Mitchell, who shot himself Friday, during a grand jury investigation of the Jonestown massacre.
A girlfriend said the victims included Mitchell's parents, grandmother, four sisters and a brother.
"He came back without a family and his belief in this guy (Jones) completely shuttered. You wonder what sort of distress creates" attacks like Friday's — "in this case you don't have to look very far," Topel said.
At 2:23 p.m. Friday, just as the weekend began for youngsters at the 49th Street Elementary School, Mitchell, 28, opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun and a rifle from a house across the street, killing 10-year- old Shala Eubanks on the crowded playground, police said. Among those wounded were 11 other children, a passer-by and schoolyard supervisor Albert Jones, 50, who was hit in the foot as he tried to reach Shala.
Jones said he tried four times to reach the child but gunfire pinned him down. "I believe he was definitely going to keep me from getting to the little girl," he said.
Police lobbed a dozen tear gas canisters into the white Victorian house, then used a battering ram to break down the door. The body of Mitchell, who rented a second-story apartment from his uncle, Willie Lee Mitchell, was found inside.
"Who knows that when he was sitting in his house, he wasn't recreating what happened down there," Topel said. "This is not to diminish the horror of what happened, but it's sort of a footnote to another horror story."
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February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, page 20A, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
Kindergarten teacher JoAnne Payne was on the phone, assuring the mother that psychologists were on hand to help her and her daughter. "They're all telling me that their children are afraid," Payne said. "One little girl hasn't slept in two days. There's a lot of anxiety. It's what you'd expect." Monday was the first day of school at the 49th Street Elementary School since a sniper killed one student and injured 14 children and two adults Friday afternoon. Normal...
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February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
Kindergarten teacher JoAnne Payne was on the phone, assuring the mother that psychologists were on hand to help her and her daughter."They're all telling me that their children are afraid," Payne said. "One little girl hasn't slept in two days. There's a lot of anxiety. It's what you'd expect." Monday was the first day of school at the 49th Street Elementary School since a sniper killed one student and injured 14 children and two adults Friday afternoon.Normal...
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February 28, 1984, New York Times - UPI, Stand Alone Photo, Students Reassured after Sniping Attack,
This item appeared in the paper as a stand alone photograph. Caption information is provided below.
A teacher hugging a pupil as classes resumed yesterday at the 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles where, on Friday, a sniper killed a 10-year-old girl and wounded 13 other people. Charles Jackson, the school's principal, told students at their weekly assembly, "I want you to know that you're safe." A man identified as Tyrone Mitchell apparently took his life after firing into schoolyard from a house across the street. United Press International
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February 28, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page C4, A Sad Puzzle,
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March 1, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier, page 6, 1,000 Attend Service; Pastor Says Slain Girl's Death Gift,
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March 1, 1984, Los Angeles Times,page B3-B4, Police Probing Chain of Events in Sniper Attack; Dept. Inquiry Also Will Focus on Handling of Mental Patient Cases by Officers, by Sandy Banks,
March 1, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, Schoolmates, Kin Jam Rites for Sniper's Victim, 300 words
A 10-year-old girl killed by a schoolyard sniper was eulogized by her pastor yesterday as a child chosen by God to remind the world of the need to embrace life.Police Chief Daryl Gates, meanwhile, ordered a departmental investigation of the circumstances leading to the shootings by Tyrone Mitchell, who earlier in the month was arrested for pointing a rifle at his uncle. Mitchell, 28, was released and the rifle returned to him, and neighbors said he often used it to shoot at airliners...
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March 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Grief-stricken family, friends say goodbye to sniper victim, 264 words
LOS ANGELES -- Nearly 1,000 grief-stricken relatives and friends packed a Baptist church and spilled onto the streets Wednesday for the funeral of Shala Eubanks, the 10-year-old girl killed last week when a sniper opened fire on a crowded schoolyard.Wailing and weeping broke out as Dr. M.C. Williams, pastor of the Roger Williams Baptist Church, delivered a eulogy."Consider this not completely a loss, but a gift to mankind," the pastor told the girl's family.He added, "If we...
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March 4, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Nightmares plague pupils after deadly sniper attack, .484 words
LOS ANGELES -- The chilling memory of a deadly sniper attack on the 49th Street Elementary School has led to nightmares and fears of further violence among students, say mental health experts trying to help them cope."Many of these children are especially upset because they are imagining that the killer had an accomplice who is going to return to get the rest of them," psychologist Martha Lyon said.There are 20 counselors at the South-Central Los Angeles campus, members of a..
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March 5, 1984, Palm Beach Post, page 2A, Lawyer Says He Didn't Represent Man,
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March 5, 1984, St. Joseph Gazette, page 6A, Attorney Mistaken About School Sniper,
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March 5, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Attorney retracts tie with accused schoolyard sniper
LOS ANGELES -- An attorney says he was mistaken when he reported that he once represented Tyrone Mitchell, who police said fired into a schoolyard Feb. 24, killing a child and injuring 13 people. Marcus Topel of San Francisco said in an interview with The Associated Press on Feb. 25, the day after the shooting which ended with Mitchell's suicide, that he had represented Mitchell during a federal grand jury investigation into the November 1978 mass suicide-murder of Peoples Temple members...274 words
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March 12, 1984, Jet, Sniping At L. A. School Still Haunts Young Pupils,
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March 13, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1-B4, Mental Time Bombs; How System Fails to Catch the Troubled, by Sandy Banks,
The sniper slaying of Shala Eubanks on a South-Central Los Angeles schoolyard was part of a larger tragedy, the minister told a church full of mourners at her funeral three weeks ago.
March 14, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B2, The Region: Supervisors Delay Action on Fired Black,Los Angeles County Supervisors, who last month faulted county Civil Service commissioners for not using their authority to reinstate a black architect in his job with the county Engineering Department, declined to use their own power to order the man rehired.
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March 14, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) No drugs, little alcohol found in killer's body, 143 words
LOS ANGELES -- No drugs and only "minimal" alcohol were found in the blood of a sniper who fired on a schoolyard last month, killing one pupil and wounding 13 other people before committing suicide, coroner's officials say."No PCP or other drugs of abuse were detected" in tests on the body of Tyrone Mitchell, county coroner's spokesman Bill Gold said Tuesday. "However, a little alcohol was found."Mitchell, 28, took his own life in a nearby house after the shooting spree Feb. 24...
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March 29, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A-1, Time for Healing Sniper Victim's Courage, Special Funds Help Soften the Pain, by Edward J. Boyer,
Esperanza Gonzales has not worked in five weeks--not since a sniper fired repeatedly into the playground of the 49th Street Elementary School, killing one student and wounding 11.
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April 14, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page 24, Man Shot in Sniper Attack on School Dies,
A passer-by who was wounded by a sniper who opened fire on the 49th Street Elementary School died at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital on Friday, eight weeks to the day after he was hit, hospital officials announced.
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April 15, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Victim of L.A. schoolyard sniper dies, 164 words
LOS ANGELES -- A man wounded by the sniper who opened fire on a crowded schoolyard died of his injuries eight weeks after the attack, officials at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital said Saturday.Carlos Lopez, shot twice in the abdomen during the Feb. 24 assault that killed a 10-year-old girl and wounded 11 children and a playground supervisor, died in the hospital's intensive care unit at 5:37 p.m. Friday."He's never got any better since surgery" to remove most of his pancreas and...
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April 15, 1984, Eugene Register-Guard, Man wounded by sniper dies,
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April 16, 1984, New York Times - AP, School Sniping Victim Dies,
LOS ANGELES, April 15—Carlos Lopez, wounded by a sniper who opened fire on a crowded schoolyard, died Friday of his injuries, officials at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital said. Mr. Lopez, 24 years old, was shot twice in the abdomen in the assault Feb. 24 that also left a 10-year-old girl dead. Twelve others were injured.
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April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1, Dies From Sniper Wounds: A 'Forgotten' Victim Leaves Wealth of Loving Memories, by Marita Hernandez,
April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A5, Friends Don't Forget Victim of School Sniper, by Marita
Hernandez,
On his visits home to his native Mexico, Carlos Lopez would regale his younger brothers with stories about his working trips to the United States.
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May 25, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Mother of slain girl sues L.A., school board over sniper attack, by City News Service, 373 words
The mother of an 11-year-old girl gunned down in the Feb. 24 sniper attack at the 49th Street Elementary School is seeking $6 million from the city and the Los Angeles Unified School District.The claim, announced Thursday by attorney Melvin Ogow, who is representing Sandra Jenkins, contends the city and school board were negligent in letting school children play outside, where they were shot by a sniper across the street.Ogow alleged that school board...
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May 26, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, $5.5M Suit Filed in School Shooting, 134 words
The family of a girl killed three months ago when a sniper opened fire on students in a grammar school playground filed a $5.5-million claim yesterday against the city and the school district.Attorney T. Michael Fehmel, representing the family of 10-year-old Shala Eubanks, said he believes police and school officials knew there was an armed man inside the house across the street from the 49th Street Elementary School at least two hours before Tyrone Mitchell opened fire from a...
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May 27, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Family of L.A. Schoolgirl Killed by Sniper Files $5.5 MILLION Suit, 241 words
The family of a girl killed three months ago when a sniper opened fire on students in a grammar school playground has filed a $5.5 million claim against the city and the school district.Attorney T. Michael Fehmel, representing the family of 10-year-old Shala Eubanks, said he believed that police and school officials knew there was an armed man inside the house across the street from the 49th Street Elementary School at least two hours before Tyrone Mitchell opened fire from a second-...
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July 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Girl injured in sniper fire leaves hospital, 263 words
LOS ANGELES -- An 8- year-old girl wounded in a sniper attack on the 49th Street Elementary School that left three dead was home again Saturday after spending four months recovering from her wounds in a hospital.Ten other people who suffered wounds in the Feb. 24 schoolyard attack have since recovered. A student and a passer-by died from their wounds and the gunman killed himself. Anna Gonzales -- who suffered bullet wounds in the back, kidney, intestines and the vena cava blood...
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July 19, 1984, Evening Tribune (San Diego, CA) Shootings here set grim record, 740 words
The shooting deaths of 20 people at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro set a grim record in U.S. history for the largest number of people gunned down by one person at one time. Yesterday's massacre at the fast-food restaurant was the third tragedy to hit the South Bay in the last two years.A score of people were killed in a 90-minute shooting spree by 41-year-old James Huberty, an unemployed security guard, before Huberty was shot and killed by police.Before the...
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December 6, 1984, page B2, Los Angeles Times, Mother of Slain Schoolgirl Sues District,
A $3.5-million wrongful death suit was filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District by the mother of 11-year-old Shala Eubanks, who was killed last Feb. 25 when a sniper sprayed the crowded 49th Street Elementary School grounds with gunfire
December 6, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Short takes, 1,049 words
The families of three victims of a Los Angeles schoolyard sniper who killed one girl and injured 13 people last February are suing the school district, alleging negligence, attorneys said Wednesday.Parents contend school authorities failed to act after previous shooting incidents at the apartment of sniper Tyrone Mitchell, 28, across the street, but district spokesman Marty Estrin said Mitchell "had never previously made any kind of threatening acts against the school" and there was no...
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January 9, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page B11, Second Suit Filed in Sniper's Slaying of Girl, 11, on Playground at L.A. School, Neighbors
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February 24, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page A3-A5, Schoolyard Shooting Tragedy Spurs Plan to Provide Experts; County to Assist Police With Mentally Ill, by Sandy Banks and Matita Hernandez,
A year has passed since the playground of the 49th Street Elementary School erupted with the sound of gunfire and screaming children in a fusillade that left 12 people wounded and three others dead--including a 10-year-old girl and the deranged sniper, who killed himself.
May 26, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, $5.5M Suit Filed in School Shooting, 134 words
May 27, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Family of L.A. Schoolgirl Killed by Sniper Files $5.5 MILLION Suit, 241 words
July 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Girl injured in sniper fire leaves hospital, 263 words
July 19, 1984, Evening Tribune (San Diego, CA) Shootings here set grim record, 740 words
December 6, 1984, page B2, Los Angeles Times, Mother of Slain Schoolgirl Sues District,
December 6, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Short takes, 1,049 words
January 9, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page B11, Second Suit Filed in Sniper's Slaying of Girl, 11, on Playground at L.A. School,
February 24, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page A3-A5, Schoolyard Shooting Tragedy Spurs Plan to Provide Experts; County to Assist Police With Mentally Ill, by Sandy Banks and Matita Hernandez,
November 26, 1985, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Children hurt in school attack, Judge dismisses charges in sniping suit, 254 words
December 3, 1987, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Researchers find post-trauma disorders in children, 358 words
January 21, 1998, Los Angeles Times, page A3, Woman Imprisoned for '79 School Slayings Withdraws Parole Request; Crime: Brenda Spencer acts just minutes before hearing, She killed two and wounded nine in San Diego sniper attack when she was 16, by Tom Gorman,
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February 25, 1984, Ocala [FL] Star-Banner - AP, page 1, L.A. Schoolyard Sniper Kills One, Wounds 10,
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February 25, 1984, New York Times, page A6, Girl Killed, 11 Shot at School on Coast, by Robert Lindsey,
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24— A sniper fired repeatedly into a crowded schoolyard in south-central Los Angeles today, killing a 10-year-old girl and injuring at least 11 other people, three critically.
Almost four hours after the shootings began at 2:23 P.M., members of a Los Angeles Police Department paramilitary unit entered a home across the street from the schoolyard and found the body of a man they said was the sniper. They identified him as Tyrone Mitchell, 28 years old.
The police said he appeared to have killed himself. Before entering, the police fired at least 16 canisters of tear gas into the house.
Police officials said friends of Mr. Mitchell had told them he had been a member of the People's Temple and had been in Guyana the day that hundreds of followers of the Rev. Jim Jones died in mass murders and suicides. He reportedly escaped death because he was away from Jonestown on a trip to Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, when the deaths occurred in November 1978.
Police officials said his parents and at least two other close relatives were believed to have died at Jonestown.
The girl killed by the sniper today was identified as Shala Eubanks. The injured included nine children and two adults, according to Lew Ritter, a deputy Los Angeles police chief.
The shooting occurred as pupils were leaving for the day from the 49th Street School in the heart of a sprawling black and Hispanic community not far from the site of the 1965 Watts riots.
Nearby Houses Evacuated
The police special weapons and tactics team evacuated homes around the house they surrounded. Police officials said no one had been inside the house except Mr. Mitchell. The police dispatched a team of officers specially trained to deal with barricaded suspects, but they failed to talk him into surrendering.
The police officials said that Mr. Mitchell had a reputation in his neighborhood as a habitual user of the drug PCP and that relatives had told them he was under the influence of drugs today. They said they had been unable so far to confirm the reports of Mr. Mitchell's connections with Jonestown.
Witnesses said there had been about 100 children in the schoolyard when the shooting began.
They said the shots rang out without any warning and children began to fall. Those who were not hit ran screaming in search of shelter. The injured were taken to hospitals nearby.
Some Injured Are Listed
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 (UPI)-- The critically wounded victims at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital were listed as Anna Gonzalez, 8, Steve Gomez, 9, and Carlos Lopez Bernal, 24, who was walking by the school when the sniper started shooting.
The wounded children at Orthopaedic Hospital were identified as Myra Cruz, Iran Macias and Alicia Pena, all 10, and Latreece Williams, 11. A playground supervisor, Albert Jones, 50, was also listed there as wounded. Others injured were believed to have been treated and released.
Dessi McClain, who lives across the street from the school, said she first thought the shots were a car backfiring. "But then it was so many shots," she said. "The kids were running out of the school screaming and hollering. They were running across the street.
"The teachers were trying to get the kids out of the yard, to get them away from the school. The shooting was going on all the time. It just kept coming: Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Bea Ransome, the school's office manager, said: "The kids were screaming, but they were quickly brought into the school building by adults in the yard. When I first heard shooting I didn't know what was going on. Then I saw dozens of kids down on the ground, but most of them weren't hurt, they were just trying to hide."
Seven ambulances were sent to the school. Some of the injured students were flown out by police helicopter. Other students were evacuated from the premises safely.
A Fire Department paramedic, Jack Fry, said he and his partner drove their ambulance onto the schoolyard and started pulling children, some hiding behind trees and trash cans, many of them crying, into the vehicle to take them out of the line of fire.
"We pulled the kids, injured or not, into the ambulance," he said. "We just wanted to get them safe. We didn't know what could happen."
A neighbor of Mr. Mitchell's, Ronnie Love, who was on a high school track team with him, said the dead man had been "wild all his life."
"He had a short fuse," he added. "He could go off at any time."
Mr. Mitchell's uncle, Willie Mitchell, said his nephew had a "history of problems." Deputy Chief Ritter described Mr. Mitchell as "a well-known suspect in the Newton Street area."
"Many of the officers have dealt with him before," Mr. Ritter said. :He has a history of being involved with drugs, particularly PCP."
photo of officers at home of sniper (page 6)
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February 25, 1984, Ottawa Citizen – AP, page 2, Sniper opens fire on playground,
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February 25, 1984, The Indiana Gazette - AP, page 1, Schoolyard sniper kills pupil, self,
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February 25, 1984, The Indiana Gazette - AP, page 4, Supervisor shot, tried to help girl,
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February 25, 1984, The Sun - AP, page A12, Jonestown Survivor Kills 1 Student, Wounds 12,
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February 25, 1984, The Daily Times [Portsmouth, Ohio] AP, page 1, Gunman Dead After Killing Girl, Wounding 12 at School,
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February 25, 1984, Spokane Chronicle - AP, page 1, Sniper Kills Child, Wounds 13 In LA,
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February 25, 1984, Spokane Chronicle - AP, page 2, Gunfire kept would-be hero from reaching girl,
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February 25, 1984, Lewiston Journal - AP, page 6, Sniper Takes Own Life, by Lee Siegel,
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February 25, 1984, Free Lance-Star - AP, page 1, School Sniper's Parents Died At Jonestown, by Lee Siegel,
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February 25, 1984, Miami Herald, page 1A, Sniper Kills 1, Hurts 13 at Grade School, 625 words
A sniper opened fire on a crowded elementary school playground Friday afternoon, killing a young girl and wounding 13 other people before killing himself in the nearby house where he was holed up, authorities said. Police found the man's body when they stormed the house nearly four hours after the shootings began as classes at the 49th Street Elementary School were letting out for the weekend. Police officer Sergio Diaz said the sniper "killed himself sometime this...______________________________________________________________________________
February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times. page A1, Sniper Fire Kills 1, Injures 13 at School: Children on Playground Flee in Panic; L.A. Police Find Gunman Dead in Home, by Jerry Belcher,
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February 25, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 4A, Playground sniper kills one and self,
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February 25, 1984, Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Los Angeles Sniper Kills Child at School, Wounds 11 Others,650 words
LOS ANGELES -- A sniper opened fire on a crowded elementary school playground yesterday, killing a young girl and wounding 11 other people before killing himself in the nearby house where he was holed up, authorities said.Heavily armed police found the man's body when they stormed the house nearly four hours after the shootings, which began as classes at the 49th Street Elementary School were letting out for the weekend."He took his own life," said police spokesman Sergio Cruz.... 650 words
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February 25, 1984, San Diego Union, The (CA) L.A. sniper hurts 11, kills pupil and self, 827 words
A man whose parents died in the Jonestown murder-suicide opened fire on dozens of children leaving an elementary school yesterday afternoon, killing a little girl and injuring 11 other people before slaying himself. Police said Tyrone Mitchell, 28, who fired the shots from inside a two-story house across the street from the school, had a history of drug use and "irrational behavior."He remained barricaded inside the home for nearly four hours, while SWAT officers bombarded the..
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February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, 'He's Been Wild All His Life', 238 words
Tyrone Mitchell, who opened fire on a schoolyard yesterday afternoon, killing one student and wounding 13 other people, was a sometime carpenter and roofer with a history of drug abuse and erratic behavior.Friends said his parents, sister and a cousin died five years ago in the Jonestown murder-suicide."He's been wild all his life," said Ronnie Love, a lifelong neighbor and teammate of Mitchell on the track team at Jefferson High School. "He had a short fuse - he could go off at...
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February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Schoolyard Sniper - Child Dead, 13 Others Hurt in LA Attack, 582 words
A sniper whose parents apparently died in the Jonestown murder-suicide opened fire on dozens of children leaving an elementary school yesterday afternoon, killing a girl and injuring 13 other people. Police said the suspect killed himself a few minutes later.Officers said Tyrone Mitchell, 28, who had a history of drug use and ''irrational behavior," fired the shots from a second-floor window in his white and blue house across the street from the school playground.At dusk,..
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February 25, 1984, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sniper at School Kills Girl, Injures 13; Suspect Commits Suicide, Los Angeles Police Say 559 words
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February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, 'Almost Like a Guilt'; Sniper Escaped Jonestown but Not Its Horror, by Eric Malnic,
"A lot of things make this understandable," Marcus Topel said quietly.
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February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, Sniper Fire Kills 1, Injures 13 at School; Children on Playground Flee in Panic; L.A. Police Find Gunman Dead in Home, by Jerry Belcher,
A sniper fired bullet after bullet into the crowded playground of a South-Central Los Angeles elementary school as classes let out Friday, killing one girl and wounding 11 other children and two adults.
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February 25, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A2, School Sniper Kills 1, Injures 13, by Jerry Belcher,
A sniper fired bullet after bullet into the crowded playground of a South-Central Los Angeles elementary school as classes let out Friday, killing one girl and wounding 11 other children and two adults.
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February 25, 1984, NBC News, Schoolyard Sniper Is Found Dead When Police Break Into His House, Stock Footage,
www.nbcuniversalarchives.com/nbcuni/clip/5112524765_s07.do
STILL OF 28 YR OLD SNIPER TYRONE MITCHELL WHO SHOT HIMSELF SEEN. ...EVER SINCE HIS FAMILY WAS KILLED IN JONESTOWN, GUYANA.
SCHOOLYARD SNIPER IS FOUND DEAD WHEN POLICE BREAK INTO HIS HOUSE
AMBULANCE WITH SIREN DRIVES DOWN STREET. WOUNDED CHILD IS PLACED IN AMBULANCE ON STRETCHER ON 2-24-84. THE FAMILY OF 10 YR OLD EUBANKS CRIES & GRIEVES OVER HER DEATH. POLICE CROUCH BEHIND POLICE CAR OUTSIDE SNIPERS HOUSE ACROSS FROM SCHOOL. STILL OF 28 YR OLD SNIPER TYRONE MITCHELL WHO SHOT HIMSELF SEEN. SNIPERS UNCLE WILLIE MITCHELL SAYS TYRONE HAD A PROBLEM EVER SINCE HIS FAMILY WAS KILLED IN JONESTOWN GUYANA. EXTERIORS OF TYRONE'S HOUSE AT DUSK SEEN. POLICE FIRE TEAR GAS INTO HOUSE. POLICE BRING BODY OF SNIPER TYRONE OUT OF HOUSE. CAPTAIN RICK BATSON OF L.A. POLICE SAYS SEVERAL GUNS WERE FOUND INSIDE HOUSE. GUNS ARE PLACED ON CAR BY POLICE. TA Producers: NBC
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February 26, 1984, The Courier - UPI, page 2A, Girl Killed, 13 Injured; Mystery sniper sprays LA schoolyard,
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February 26, 1984, New York Times, Schoolyard Killer: Cult and Drugs Seen As Clues, by Robert Lindsey,
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25— Police officials said today that they were still not sure why a former member of the People's Temple cult opened fire on a playground full of children Friday, but they speculated that the reason was rooted in drugs, alcohol and dark memories of the Rev. Jim Jones. "We really don't know what his motive was," Sgt. Tony Sanchez of the Los Angeles Police Department said, "but we've been told he had a reputation for acting irrationally sometimes."
A 10-year-old girl, Shala Eubanks, died in the fusillade of rifle shots and shotgun blasts that ripped across the schoolyard for more than 10 minutes just as classes were recessing for the day.
12 Others Injured
Ten other children and two adults were injured by gunfire or shattered glass. Three of the children were reported in serious condition in hospitals today. Witnesses said that there had been dozens of children in the schoolyard when the shooting began.
Nearly four hours after the shooting, heavily armed police officers fired several cannisters of tear gas into a two-story frame house across the street from the school, stormed in and found the body of a 28-year-old man.
Earlier, a team of police officers specially trained to deal with barricaded suspects had unsuccessfully tried to talk the man into leaving the house.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said today that a check of his fingerprints had confirmed the identification of the man as Tyrone Mitchell, a resident of the neighborhood.
Self-Inflicted Wound
After an autopsy today, the coroner's office said that Mr. Mitchell had died from a gunshot wound in his head, apparently self-inflicted. Tests will be conducted over the next few days to determine if he was under the influence of drugs when he died, the coroner's office said.
Detectives said they found two shotguns and an AR-15 semiautomatic high-powered rifle near Mr. Mitchell's body.
Neighbors and friends of Mr. Mitchell said he was drinking heavily before the shooting and that he often used PCP, a powerful, mood-altering drug whose street name is angel dust. It is common in the low-income community where the shooting occurred, the neighbors and friends said.
Fined for Firing Rifle
They said he had a reputation for being a heavy drinker and drug user and was once fined $200 for firing his rifle into the air in a dispute with a relative. Mr. Mitchell was unemployed but periodically attended a state university in nearby Long Beach.
Marylou Hill, 29, Mr. Mitchell's fiancee, told reporters he had suffered a "nervous breakdown" and had been deeply distressed since November 1978 when his parents, four sisters and a brother died in the mass suicides and murders of more than 900 people who were followers of the Rev. Jim Jones at his South American commune, Jonestown, in Guyana.
A lawyer, Marcus Topel, who represented Mr. Mitchell at a San Francisco court hearing involving the People's Temple, said Mr. Mitchell might have died at Jonestown if he had not been at a dentist's office in Georgetown, the Guyana capital, the day the deaths occurred.
Miss Hill disputed this, saying Mr. Mitchell had been unable to reach Guyana because of "passport problems."
Racial Aspect Doubted
Today police barriers blocked access to the home where Mr. Mitchell was found dead, and to the schoolyard.
The shooting occurred at the 49th Street School in the heart of a neighborhood not far from the site of the 1965 Watts riots.
In the past the neighborhood, in south-central Los Angeles, attracted mostly blacks, but in recent years it has had a large influx of immigrants from Mexico, many of them illegal aliens. The change has created tension in the neighborhood, but police officers said that this was apparently not a factor in the shootings.
They said Mr. Mitchell, a black, appeared to have fired indiscriminately toward the school. While the child who died was black, many of the injured children were of Mexican ancestry.
photo of Shala Eubanks; photo of Tyrone Mitchell; photo of injured children
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February 26, 1984, Rome News-Tribune - AP, page A1, School Sniping Linked To Suicides At Guyana,
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February 26, 1984, Spartansburg Herald-Journal - AP, page A10, Survivor Of Jonestown Suicide May Have Been Reliving Horror, [Tyrone Mitchell]
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February 26, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 8A, Was Sniper Reliving Jonestown Suicide?,
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February 26, 1984, The Register-Guard [Eugene, Oregon] AP, page 8A, Tragedy stalks cult's survivors; Sniper one of them,
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February 26, 1984, The Register-Guard [Eugene, Oregon] AP, page 9A, Sniper attack 'sort of a footnote',
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February 26, 1984, Gadsden Times - AP, page A2, Killer May Have Relived Jonestown,
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February 26, 1984, Ocala Star-Banner - AP, page A2, Los Angeles Schoolyard Sniper Reliving Horror,
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February 26, 1984, The Sunday Union - AP, page A2, Child Killed By Schoolyard Sniper,
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February 26, 1984, Lakeland Ledger - AP, page 8A, Was Sniper Reliving Jonestown Suicide?,
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February 26, 1984, Youngstown Vindicator - AP, page 10A, School Sniper's Memories Cited,
[...]
"He was a young ex-college student who'd gone to (South America) to be with his family. In the Rev. Jim Jones he was looking for the utopian sort of life it seemed they had down there," attorney Marcus Topel said.
[...]
Topel represented Tyrone Mitchell, who shot himself Friday, during a grand jury investigation of the Jonestown massacre. A girlfriend said the victims included Mitchell's parents, grandmother, four sisters and a brother.
"He came back without a family and his belief in this guy )Jones) completely shattered. You wonder what sort of distress creates" attacks like Friday's---"in this case you don't have to look very far," Topel said.
[...]
"Who knows that when he was sitting in his house, he wasn't recreating what happened down there," Topel said. "This is not to diminish the horror of what happened, but it's sort of a footnote to another horror story."
Topel called the deaths of Shala and Mitchell "another two lives that Jim Jones has claimed."
[...]
Mitchell was seeing a dentist in Georgetown, Guyana on Nov. 18, 1978, when 912 of Jones' followers drank poisoned punch, according to Topel. His account contradicted that of Mitchell's fiancee, Mary Lou Hill, 29, who said the two never carried through plans to go to Guyana.
"It's just a great quirk of fate he escapes mass death and destruction only to recreate it himself five years later, Toel added.
Deputy Police Chief Lew Ritter said Mitchell was "a well-known suspect with the Newton Police Division for his irrational behavior...and as a user of PCP," a hallucinogenic known to cause wildly aggressive behavior.
But Detective Steve Morgan, who found the body at about 6 p.m., noted no drugs were found in the apartment. He also said Saturday that there were no drug-related cases on Mitchell's short police record.
[..]
Ms. Hill said earlier that passport problems prevented Mitchell from going to Jonestown. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
[...]
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February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, Horror of Jonestown Deaths Tied to School Sniper, by Kathy Horak,
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February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, Tragedies Hardest On Survivors .Students Face Difficult Task of Returning to Classes, by Sue Manning,
February 26, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier - AP, page 8, 'Peoples Temples' Violence Spawns Troubled Legacy,
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February 26, 1984, Miami Herald, page 6A, Police May Never Know' School Sniper's Motive, 479 words
Police said Saturday "we may never know" why a sniper opened fire on a crowded schoolyard, killing a girl and wounding 13 other people, but friends and relatives said he was tormented by the loss of his family in the mass suicide-murders at Jonestown, Guyana. Tyrone Mitchell, 28, a onetime follower of People's Temple leader Jim Jones, opened fire with a rifle and shotgun from a second-floor window across from the 49th Street Elementary School as classes were let out Friday afternoon. He... 479 words
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February 26, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A1-A3, Aftermath of School Sniping; Stunned Parents and Neighbors Ask, 'Why?', by Peter H. King and H.G. Reza,
Things were strangely busy for a Saturday along 50th Street in South-Central Los Angeles. On the north side of the street, the worst kind of work a public school principal could ever imagine had drawn Charles Jackson to the brick elementary school on what should...
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February 26, 1984, San Diego Union, L.A. sniper may have been reliving Jonestown horror,
LOS ANGELES -- A survivor of the Peoples Temple mass suicide may have been reliving his family's deaths when he fired on a schoolyard Friday, killing a little girl and wounding 13 people before killing himself, his former attorney said yesterday. "He was a young ex-college student who'd gone to (South America) to be with his family. In the Rev. Jim Jones he was looking for the utopian sort of life it seemed they had down there," attorney Marcus Topel said.More than 900 people...564 words
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February 26, 1984, Mohave Daily Miner UPI, Jonestown Specter Haunted Sniper,
Jim Jones, opened fire with a rifle and shotgun from a second-floor window ... Marcus Topel, a San Francisco attorney who said he represented Mitchell at a ...
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February 26, 1984, San Diego Union, L.A. sniper may have been reliving Jonestown horror,
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February 26, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, School Aide: Sniper Headed Him Off, .534 words
A 50-year-old playground supervisor shot while trying to help a child felled by gunfire said the sniper who shattered a routine school day here Friday "definitely was going to keep me from getting to that little girl."The supervisor, Albert Jones, who has worked at the 49th Street Elementary School for three years, was in the schoolyard at the time of the shooting only because he had lingered an extra hour, to play softball with students and teachers and to watch the children..
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February 27, 1985, Los Angeles Times page C4, Trying to Prevent Tragedies,
A mentally disturbed person with only the thinnest streak of violence can produce disaster any time, any place,
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February 27, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A5, 'God Bless Shala in Heaven'; Schoolgirl Victim of Sniper Is Mourned, by Mathis Chazanov and Belma Johnson,
The Rev. M.C. Williams stopped the choir Sunday before the last verse of the hymn "Count on Me" at the Roger Williams Baptist Church, where Shala Eubanks--slain in her schoolyard by a sniper--was baptized just six months ago.
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February 27, 1985, Los Angeles Times page C1-C2, Classmates of Sniper Victim Seek Solace; Strangers Pray, Try to Comfort 3 Still Hospitalized, by Mathis Chazanov and Belma Johnson,
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February 27, 1984, Los Angeles Times - AP, page A1, Photo Standalone 1 -- No Title,
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February 26, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, School Aide: Sniper Headed Him Off, .534 words
A 50-year-old playground supervisor shot while trying to help a child felled by gunfire said the sniper who shattered a routine school day here Friday "definitely was going to keep me from getting to that little girl."The supervisor, Albert Jones, who has worked at the 49th Street Elementary School for three years, was in the schoolyard at the time of the shooting only because he had lingered an extra hour, to play softball with students and teachers and to watch the children..
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February 27, 1985, Los Angeles Times page C4, Trying to Prevent Tragedies,
A mentally disturbed person with only the thinnest streak of violence can produce disaster any time, any place,
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February 27, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A5, 'God Bless Shala in Heaven'; Schoolgirl Victim of Sniper Is Mourned, by Mathis Chazanov and Belma Johnson,
The Rev. M.C. Williams stopped the choir Sunday before the last verse of the hymn "Count on Me" at the Roger Williams Baptist Church, where Shala Eubanks--slain in her schoolyard by a sniper--was baptized just six months ago.
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February 27, 1985, Los Angeles Times page C1-C2, Classmates of Sniper Victim Seek Solace; Strangers Pray, Try to Comfort 3 Still Hospitalized, by Mathis Chazanov and Belma Johnson,
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February 27, 1984, Los Angeles Times - AP, page A1, Photo Standalone 1 -- No Title,
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February 27, 1984, Ottawa Citizen - Knight-Ridder, page 2, Cult influence blamed for tragedy,
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February 27, 1984, NBC News, Students Return to Class, Following Sniping Attack,
Duration: 00:01:31:00
Personalities: School Principal Charles Jackson, L.A. Detective Steve Morgan,
STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASS FOLLOWING SNIPING ATTACK
STUDENTS WALKING TO SCHOOL IN GROUPS & WITH PARENTS SEEN. CHILD SAYS THEY ARE NERVOUS BECAUSE THEY THINK SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. SCHOOL PRINCIPAL CHARLES JACKSON SAYS AT SCHOOL ASSEMBLY THAT SCHOOL WILL GO ON AS USUAL. HE SAYS THAT THERE IS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF AND THAT HE JUST WANTS THE CHILDREN TO BE THE SAME GOOD STUDENTS THAT THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN. WORKERS PUT WRAPPED BODY INTO CORONERS TRUCK. LOS ANGELES DETECTIVE STEVE MORGAN SAYS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HANDLED MITCHELL AND THE THREATS HE MADE ON HIS RELATIVES LIVES IN A NORMAL MANNER. STILL PHOTO OF TYRONE MITCHELL. CHILDREN PLAYING IN SCHOOL YARD SEEN.
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February 27, 1984, Ottawa Citizen - Knight-Ridder, page 3, Lawyer Blames Rev. Jim Jones for Los Angeles sniper tragedy,
February 27, 1984, Ottawa Citizen - Knight-Ridder, page 2, Cult influence blamed for tragedy,
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February 27, 1984, NBC News, Students Return to Class, Following Sniping Attack,
Duration: 00:01:31:00
Personalities: School Principal Charles Jackson, L.A. Detective Steve Morgan,
STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASS FOLLOWING SNIPING ATTACK
STUDENTS WALKING TO SCHOOL IN GROUPS & WITH PARENTS SEEN. CHILD SAYS THEY ARE NERVOUS BECAUSE THEY THINK SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. SCHOOL PRINCIPAL CHARLES JACKSON SAYS AT SCHOOL ASSEMBLY THAT SCHOOL WILL GO ON AS USUAL. HE SAYS THAT THERE IS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF AND THAT HE JUST WANTS THE CHILDREN TO BE THE SAME GOOD STUDENTS THAT THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN. WORKERS PUT WRAPPED BODY INTO CORONERS TRUCK. LOS ANGELES DETECTIVE STEVE MORGAN SAYS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HANDLED MITCHELL AND THE THREATS HE MADE ON HIS RELATIVES LIVES IN A NORMAL MANNER. STILL PHOTO OF TYRONE MITCHELL. CHILDREN PLAYING IN SCHOOL YARD SEEN.
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February 27, 1984, Ottawa Citizen - Knight-Ridder, page 3, Lawyer Blames Rev. Jim Jones for Los Angeles sniper tragedy,
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February 28, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Scars That Don't Show, 424 words
Children assembled yesterday on the bullet-scarred playground, where last week a sniper killed a little girl and wounded 13 other people, to hear assurances "everything is going to be all right."A school official said 278 students stayed home - nearly four times the normal absentee rate."What happened Friday is over,"
Principal Charles Jackson told the students of the 49th Street Elementary School as he faced the two-story Victorian house where the gunman cut loose with a...
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February 28, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sniper's Fire Still Echoes at School, 80 words
Kindergarten teacher JoAnne Payne was on the phone, assuring the mother that psychologists were on hand to help her and her daughter."They're all telling me that their children are afraid," Mrs. Payne said. "One little girl hasn't slept in two days. There's a lot of anxiety. It's what you'd expect."Yesterday was the first day of school at the 49th Street Elementary School since a sniper shot and killed one student and injured 14 children and two adults Friday afternoon....
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February 28, 1984, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, page 9A, School sniper survivor of Jonestown suicides,
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A survivor of the Peoples Temple mass suicide may have been reliving the horror of his family's deaths when he fired on a schoolyard, killing a little girl and wounding 13 people before killing himself, his former attorney said Saturday.
"He was a young ex-college student who'd gone to (South America) to be with his family. In the Rev. Jim Jones he was looking for the Utopian sort of life it seemed they had down there," attorney Marcus Topel said.
More than 900 people committed suicide or were killed at Jones' Peoples Temple cult settlement at Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. Topel represented Tyrone Mitchell, who shot himself Friday, during a grand jury investigation of the Jonestown massacre.
A girlfriend said the victims included Mitchell's parents, grandmother, four sisters and a brother.
"He came back without a family and his belief in this guy (Jones) completely shuttered. You wonder what sort of distress creates" attacks like Friday's — "in this case you don't have to look very far," Topel said.
At 2:23 p.m. Friday, just as the weekend began for youngsters at the 49th Street Elementary School, Mitchell, 28, opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun and a rifle from a house across the street, killing 10-year- old Shala Eubanks on the crowded playground, police said. Among those wounded were 11 other children, a passer-by and schoolyard supervisor Albert Jones, 50, who was hit in the foot as he tried to reach Shala.
Jones said he tried four times to reach the child but gunfire pinned him down. "I believe he was definitely going to keep me from getting to the little girl," he said.
Police lobbed a dozen tear gas canisters into the white Victorian house, then used a battering ram to break down the door. The body of Mitchell, who rented a second-story apartment from his uncle, Willie Lee Mitchell, was found inside.
"Who knows that when he was sitting in his house, he wasn't recreating what happened down there," Topel said. "This is not to diminish the horror of what happened, but it's sort of a footnote to another horror story."
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February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, page 20A, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
Kindergarten teacher JoAnne Payne was on the phone, assuring the mother that psychologists were on hand to help her and her daughter. "They're all telling me that their children are afraid," Payne said. "One little girl hasn't slept in two days. There's a lot of anxiety. It's what you'd expect." Monday was the first day of school at the 49th Street Elementary School since a sniper killed one student and injured 14 children and two adults Friday afternoon. Normal...
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February 28, 1984, Miami Herald, Sniper Nightmare Haunts Children Returning to Class, 723 words
Kindergarten teacher JoAnne Payne was on the phone, assuring the mother that psychologists were on hand to help her and her daughter."They're all telling me that their children are afraid," Payne said. "One little girl hasn't slept in two days. There's a lot of anxiety. It's what you'd expect." Monday was the first day of school at the 49th Street Elementary School since a sniper killed one student and injured 14 children and two adults Friday afternoon.Normal...
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February 28, 1984, New York Times - UPI, Stand Alone Photo, Students Reassured after Sniping Attack,
This item appeared in the paper as a stand alone photograph. Caption information is provided below.
A teacher hugging a pupil as classes resumed yesterday at the 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles where, on Friday, a sniper killed a 10-year-old girl and wounded 13 other people. Charles Jackson, the school's principal, told students at their weekly assembly, "I want you to know that you're safe." A man identified as Tyrone Mitchell apparently took his life after firing into schoolyard from a house across the street. United Press International
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February 28, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page C4, A Sad Puzzle,
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March 1, 1984, The Oxnard Press-Courier, page 6, 1,000 Attend Service; Pastor Says Slain Girl's Death Gift,
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March 1, 1984, Los Angeles Times,page B3-B4, Police Probing Chain of Events in Sniper Attack; Dept. Inquiry Also Will Focus on Handling of Mental Patient Cases by Officers, by Sandy Banks,
Police Chief Daryl F. Gates on Wednesday called for a departmental investigation into the "chain of events" that led to last week's sniper attack on a group of elementary school children in South-Central Los Angeles.
_________________________________________________________________________________March 1, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, Schoolmates, Kin Jam Rites for Sniper's Victim, 300 words
A 10-year-old girl killed by a schoolyard sniper was eulogized by her pastor yesterday as a child chosen by God to remind the world of the need to embrace life.Police Chief Daryl Gates, meanwhile, ordered a departmental investigation of the circumstances leading to the shootings by Tyrone Mitchell, who earlier in the month was arrested for pointing a rifle at his uncle. Mitchell, 28, was released and the rifle returned to him, and neighbors said he often used it to shoot at airliners...
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March 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Grief-stricken family, friends say goodbye to sniper victim, 264 words
LOS ANGELES -- Nearly 1,000 grief-stricken relatives and friends packed a Baptist church and spilled onto the streets Wednesday for the funeral of Shala Eubanks, the 10-year-old girl killed last week when a sniper opened fire on a crowded schoolyard.Wailing and weeping broke out as Dr. M.C. Williams, pastor of the Roger Williams Baptist Church, delivered a eulogy."Consider this not completely a loss, but a gift to mankind," the pastor told the girl's family.He added, "If we...
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March 4, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Nightmares plague pupils after deadly sniper attack, .484 words
LOS ANGELES -- The chilling memory of a deadly sniper attack on the 49th Street Elementary School has led to nightmares and fears of further violence among students, say mental health experts trying to help them cope."Many of these children are especially upset because they are imagining that the killer had an accomplice who is going to return to get the rest of them," psychologist Martha Lyon said.There are 20 counselors at the South-Central Los Angeles campus, members of a..
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March 5, 1984, Palm Beach Post, page 2A, Lawyer Says He Didn't Represent Man,
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March 5, 1984, St. Joseph Gazette, page 6A, Attorney Mistaken About School Sniper,
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March 5, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Attorney retracts tie with accused schoolyard sniper
LOS ANGELES -- An attorney says he was mistaken when he reported that he once represented Tyrone Mitchell, who police said fired into a schoolyard Feb. 24, killing a child and injuring 13 people. Marcus Topel of San Francisco said in an interview with The Associated Press on Feb. 25, the day after the shooting which ended with Mitchell's suicide, that he had represented Mitchell during a federal grand jury investigation into the November 1978 mass suicide-murder of Peoples Temple members...274 words
March 12, 1984, Jet, Sniping At L. A. School Still Haunts Young Pupils,
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March 13, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1-B4, Mental Time Bombs; How System Fails to Catch the Troubled, by Sandy Banks,
The sniper slaying of Shala Eubanks on a South-Central Los Angeles schoolyard was part of a larger tragedy, the minister told a church full of mourners at her funeral three weeks ago.
March 14, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B2, The Region: Supervisors Delay Action on Fired Black,Los Angeles County Supervisors, who last month faulted county Civil Service commissioners for not using their authority to reinstate a black architect in his job with the county Engineering Department, declined to use their own power to order the man rehired.
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March 14, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) No drugs, little alcohol found in killer's body, 143 words
LOS ANGELES -- No drugs and only "minimal" alcohol were found in the blood of a sniper who fired on a schoolyard last month, killing one pupil and wounding 13 other people before committing suicide, coroner's officials say."No PCP or other drugs of abuse were detected" in tests on the body of Tyrone Mitchell, county coroner's spokesman Bill Gold said Tuesday. "However, a little alcohol was found."Mitchell, 28, took his own life in a nearby house after the shooting spree Feb. 24...
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March 29, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A-1, Time for Healing Sniper Victim's Courage, Special Funds Help Soften the Pain, by Edward J. Boyer,
Esperanza Gonzales has not worked in five weeks--not since a sniper fired repeatedly into the playground of the 49th Street Elementary School, killing one student and wounding 11.
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April 14, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page 24, Man Shot in Sniper Attack on School Dies,
A passer-by who was wounded by a sniper who opened fire on the 49th Street Elementary School died at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital on Friday, eight weeks to the day after he was hit, hospital officials announced.
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April 15, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Victim of L.A. schoolyard sniper dies, 164 words
LOS ANGELES -- A man wounded by the sniper who opened fire on a crowded schoolyard died of his injuries eight weeks after the attack, officials at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital said Saturday.Carlos Lopez, shot twice in the abdomen during the Feb. 24 assault that killed a 10-year-old girl and wounded 11 children and a playground supervisor, died in the hospital's intensive care unit at 5:37 p.m. Friday."He's never got any better since surgery" to remove most of his pancreas and...
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April 15, 1984, Eugene Register-Guard, Man wounded by sniper dies,
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April 16, 1984, New York Times - AP, School Sniping Victim Dies,
LOS ANGELES, April 15—Carlos Lopez, wounded by a sniper who opened fire on a crowded schoolyard, died Friday of his injuries, officials at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital said. Mr. Lopez, 24 years old, was shot twice in the abdomen in the assault Feb. 24 that also left a 10-year-old girl dead. Twelve others were injured.
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April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page B1, Dies From Sniper Wounds: A 'Forgotten' Victim Leaves Wealth of Loving Memories, by Marita Hernandez,
April 22, 1984, Los Angeles Times, page A5, Friends Don't Forget Victim of School Sniper, by Marita
Hernandez,
On his visits home to his native Mexico, Carlos Lopez would regale his younger brothers with stories about his working trips to the United States.
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May 25, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Mother of slain girl sues L.A., school board over sniper attack, by City News Service, 373 words
The mother of an 11-year-old girl gunned down in the Feb. 24 sniper attack at the 49th Street Elementary School is seeking $6 million from the city and the Los Angeles Unified School District.The claim, announced Thursday by attorney Melvin Ogow, who is representing Sandra Jenkins, contends the city and school board were negligent in letting school children play outside, where they were shot by a sniper across the street.Ogow alleged that school board...
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May 26, 1984, Philadelphia Daily News, $5.5M Suit Filed in School Shooting, 134 words
The family of a girl killed three months ago when a sniper opened fire on students in a grammar school playground filed a $5.5-million claim yesterday against the city and the school district.Attorney T. Michael Fehmel, representing the family of 10-year-old Shala Eubanks, said he believes police and school officials knew there was an armed man inside the house across the street from the 49th Street Elementary School at least two hours before Tyrone Mitchell opened fire from a...
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May 27, 1984, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Family of L.A. Schoolgirl Killed by Sniper Files $5.5 MILLION Suit, 241 words
The family of a girl killed three months ago when a sniper opened fire on students in a grammar school playground has filed a $5.5 million claim against the city and the school district.Attorney T. Michael Fehmel, representing the family of 10-year-old Shala Eubanks, said he believed that police and school officials knew there was an armed man inside the house across the street from the 49th Street Elementary School at least two hours before Tyrone Mitchell opened fire from a second-...
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July 1, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Girl injured in sniper fire leaves hospital, 263 words
LOS ANGELES -- An 8- year-old girl wounded in a sniper attack on the 49th Street Elementary School that left three dead was home again Saturday after spending four months recovering from her wounds in a hospital.Ten other people who suffered wounds in the Feb. 24 schoolyard attack have since recovered. A student and a passer-by died from their wounds and the gunman killed himself. Anna Gonzales -- who suffered bullet wounds in the back, kidney, intestines and the vena cava blood...
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July 19, 1984, Evening Tribune (San Diego, CA) Shootings here set grim record, 740 words
The shooting deaths of 20 people at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro set a grim record in U.S. history for the largest number of people gunned down by one person at one time. Yesterday's massacre at the fast-food restaurant was the third tragedy to hit the South Bay in the last two years.A score of people were killed in a 90-minute shooting spree by 41-year-old James Huberty, an unemployed security guard, before Huberty was shot and killed by police.Before the...
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December 6, 1984, page B2, Los Angeles Times, Mother of Slain Schoolgirl Sues District,
A $3.5-million wrongful death suit was filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District by the mother of 11-year-old Shala Eubanks, who was killed last Feb. 25 when a sniper sprayed the crowded 49th Street Elementary School grounds with gunfire
December 6, 1984, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Short takes, 1,049 words
The families of three victims of a Los Angeles schoolyard sniper who killed one girl and injured 13 people last February are suing the school district, alleging negligence, attorneys said Wednesday.Parents contend school authorities failed to act after previous shooting incidents at the apartment of sniper Tyrone Mitchell, 28, across the street, but district spokesman Marty Estrin said Mitchell "had never previously made any kind of threatening acts against the school" and there was no...
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January 9, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page B11, Second Suit Filed in Sniper's Slaying of Girl, 11, on Playground at L.A. School, Neighbors
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February 24, 1985, Los Angeles Times, page A3-A5, Schoolyard Shooting Tragedy Spurs Plan to Provide Experts; County to Assist Police With Mentally Ill, by Sandy Banks and Matita Hernandez,
A year has passed since the playground of the 49th Street Elementary School erupted with the sound of gunfire and screaming children in a fusillade that left 12 people wounded and three others dead--including a 10-year-old girl and the deranged sniper, who killed himself.
November 26, 1985, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Children hurt in school attack, Judge dismisses charges in sniping suit, 254 words
A Superior Court judge Monday dismissed charges against Los Angeles and its police department in a suit filed by the parents of two children injured during a sniper attack on a public school.Judge Warren Deering ruled that the city and department are immune from civil action, said attorney Thomas Yuhas. He said he almost certainly will appeal the decision.The suit was filed late last year on behalf of schoolchildren Anna Gonzalez and Steven Gomez, who were injured when a sniper...
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December 3, 1987, Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Researchers find post-trauma disorders in children, 358 words
A psychological disorder that afflicts some Vietnam War veterans was found in children who survived a 1984 Los Angeles schoolyard sniper attack that left three people dead and a dozen injured, a researcher said Wednesday."We found that, just like adults, children suffer the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder after being exposed to a traumatic incident," said Kathi Nader, a clinical social worker at the Neuropsychiatric Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles....
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January 21, 1998, Los Angeles Times, page A3, Woman Imprisoned for '79 School Slayings Withdraws Parole Request; Crime: Brenda Spencer acts just minutes before hearing, She killed two and wounded nine in San Diego sniper attack when she was 16, by Tom Gorman, 724 words
She won worldwide notoriety in 1979 when, as a freckled 16-year-old proclaiming, "I don't like Mondays," Brenda Spencer sprayed a San Diego elementary school playground with .22-caliber semiautomatic sniper fire. On Tuesday--just minutes before a parole board hearing at which she would have been confronted by one of her victims--Spencer withdrew her request for prison release. Instead, she settled in for at least three more years behind bars. A San Diego County prosecutor was prepared to tell the parole board, meeting here at the prison where Spencer is confined, that the 35-year-old remains a public threat.
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The School As a Safe Haven, by Rollin J. Watson and Robert S. Watson, 2002 - Education
page 160-61
LINK
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Wikipedia Tyrone Mitchell
Tyrone Mitchell, Temple survivor
Tyrone Mitchell, 28
he would have been 21 or 22 at the time of Jonestown
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The School As a Safe Haven, by Rollin J. Watson and Robert S. Watson, 2002 - Education
page 160-61
A friend said that Tyrone Mitchell was related to two persons, a sister and a cousin (others said it was his parents) who died in the 1978 mass suicide-murder of more than 900 persons at Jonestown,Guyana, in the cult led by Jim Jones,Tyrone Mitchell shooter
LINK
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Wikipedia Tyrone Mitchell
Tyrone Mitchell, Temple survivor
Tyrone Mitchell, 28
he would have been 21 or 22 at the time of Jonestown
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