1982 Wilkes-Barre shootings
Shooting spree in Pennsylvania, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1982 Wilkes-Barre shootings was a spree shooting which occurred in the United States on September 25, 1982, carried out by George Emil Banks, a former Camp Hill prison guard. Banks fatally shot 13 people in Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania. The victims included seven children – five being his own – their mothers, some of their relatives, and one bystander.[1]
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1982 Wilkes-Barre shootings | |
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Location | Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Date | September 25, 1982; 41 years ago (1982-09-25) |
Attack type | Mass shooting, spree shooting, mass murder, familicide |
Weapons | Colt AR-15 SP1 semi-automatic rifle |
Deaths | 13 |
Injured | 1 |
Perpetrator | George Emil Banks |
Verdict | Guilty on all counts |
Convictions | First-degree murder (12 counts) |
Sentence | Death |
Banks' attorneys argued for the insanity defense, but, following a trial Banks was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.[2]
On November 29, 1990, the Pennsylvania State Legislature barred further use of the electric chair amid debate that electrocution was cruel and unusual punishment; it approved execution by lethal injection. Banks's case was appealed and, on December 2, 2004, he received a stay of execution following a determination that he was incompetent for execution. On May 12, 2010, Banks was declared incompetent to be executed, following a competency hearing held the previous month.[3]
The shooting remains the deadliest in the history of Pennsylvania.[4]