On this day, Sept. 6, in 1949, Howard Unruh killed 13 neighbors in Camden, N.J., with a souvenir Luger, becoming the first modern mass murderer recorded in the United States.
Unruh was a World War II veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge and kept meticulous notes of every German killed, down to the details of the corpse. After the war, Unruh lived with his mother in Camden and became a recluse.
At 9:20 a.m. the day of the slaughter, Unruh walked out his house and randomly picked off his victims.
When Unruh was arrested, a cop asked if he was some kind of “psycho.” He replied, “I’m no psycho. I have a good mind.”
He was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
-Scott McCabe
