Tyrone Mitchell
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Tyrone Mitchell (October 17, 1955 – February 24, 1984) was an American
spree killer A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations ...
who fatally shot two students and wounded twelve others who were leaving 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on February 24, 1984. Mitchell then
committed suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including major depressive disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic f ...
by shooting himself in the head with a
double-barreled shotgun A double-barreled shotgun is a break-action shotgun with two parallel barrels, allowing two single shots to be fired in quick succession or simultaneously. Construction Modern double-barreled shotguns, often known as ''doubles'', are almost u ...
.Girl killed, 11 shot at school on coast; suspect found dead
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' (February 25, 1984)


Biography

Tyrone Mitchell was born to Lee Charles (1931–1978) and Annie Lee Mitchell (1930–1978) in
Montgomery County, Alabama Montgomery County is located in the State of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, its population was 228,954, making it the fifth-most populous county in Alabama. Its county seat is Montgomery, the state capital. Montgomery County is included in th ...
.Moore, Rebecca
Who Died in Jonestown and Georgetown, 18 November 1978?Alternative Considerations of Jonestown
Retrieved December 12, 2013.
He grew up in a
South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...
residence that was later razed to build the 49th Street Elementary School. Mitchell and his family were members of the
Peoples Temple The Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, originally Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church and commonly shortened to Peoples Temple, was an American new religious organization which existed between 1954 and 1978. Founded in Indianapolis, Ind ...
led by
Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide", ...
. In 1977, Mitchell's parents and siblings followed Jones to the Temple's
Jonestown The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, a U.S.–based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. Jonestown became internationall ...
settlement in Guyana, leaving Mitchell behind in Los Angeles; both parents, four sisters and a brother perished in the mass murder-suicide that took place at Jonestown on November 18, 1978. According to Mitchell's
fiancée An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
, a 29-year-old Temple member named Marylou Hill, he suffered a
nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
as a result of the deaths of his family. Mitchell returned to his old neighborhood in Los Angeles, and moved with Hill into a white, two-story
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
house at 730 East 50th Street, just 50 feet away from the school that now stood on the property where his childhood home had been. The house bore a crudely lettered sign reading "God's Love" and commanded a sweeping view of the school playground. Mitchell developed a reputation in the neighborhood for his irrational behavior and his abuse of drugs such as PCP, the latter of which Hill vehemently disputed. On December 5, 1979, about a year after his return, Mitchell was arrested at his home following a dispute with his uncle and landlord, Willie Lee Mitchell, about who would relight the
pilot light Merker Tankless water heating, tankless gas-fired water heater from the 1930s, with pilot light clearly visible through the aperture in the front cover. The large opening allowed for the manual lighting of the pilot light by a lit match or taper ...
on a water heater. Reportedly, Mitchell's uncle had threatened to arm himself during the dispute, and Tyrone, in turn, fired three shots from a
.30-caliber The 7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the imperial unit and customary unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for i ...
rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
into the air before police arrived. Two months later he was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm within city limits, fined $200 and placed on two years' probation. Hill said that Mitchell kept a "high-powered rifle" in the house and, by 1984, occasionally fired it at the sky. According to neighbors, in February 1984 he regularly fired at airliners passing overhead, which were landing at
Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
. These incidents were not reported to police out of fear. In an incident on February 11, one of Mitchell's uncles reported to police that Mitchell had pointed a machine gun at him. No weapon was confiscated, no arrest made, and the matter was turned over to the city attorney. Mitchell was a student at
California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
, for several years, where he attended a variety of classes. He did not hold a job. Hill, his fiancée, worked as a preschool teacher. Mitchell wanted to marry Hill right away, but she wanted to wait until their financial situation improved.


Shooting and siege

At 2:23 pm on Friday, February 24, 1984, about 100 students from the 49th Street Elementary School had just emerged from their classrooms and onto the school's playground when Mitchell opened fire from the second-story bay window of his house located across the street. Police in a squad car heard shots ring out and reported the incident immediately. Mitchell shot 39 rounds from an
AR-15 An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation d ...
rifle and 18 rounds from two
shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
s down into the crowd of students. Several children fell from their wounds in the schoolyard, while most escaped running back into the school. There they were taken to the library on the building's opposite side and waited while their parents were telephoned to pick them up. Children who remained outside hid behind trees, garbage cans, and any other available cover. Some of the children were screaming and crying. Seven ambulances were dispatched to the scene. A team of
paramedics A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...
rescued several children while Mitchell continued to fire from his window.
Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and technical rescue services to the city of Los Angeles ...
paramedic Jack Frye and his partner drove directly onto the schoolyard and pulled children into their ambulance. "We pulled the kids, injured or not, into the ambulance. We just wanted to get them safe. We didn't know what could happen," Frye stated later. Some of the injured students were flown out by police helicopter. When the barrage had ceased minutes later, the school was evacuated and Mitchell's house was surrounded by police. During the ensuing siege, Hill arrived and asked police to allow her to enter the house to try to talk with Mitchell. Authorities refused her pleas, fearing she would be taken hostage. The
Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
's
SWAT team In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
arrived and evacuated houses adjacent to Mitchell's. The siege ended when a four-man SWAT team stormed the house shortly after 6 p.m. Police fired at least 16 canisters of
tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...
into the house before the SWAT team entered. Mitchell was found laying face up on the floor of his second-story bedroom, dressed in camouflage pants, a khaki shirt, and jungle-style combat boots, with an empty knife scabbard attached to his belt. He had killed himself with a single wound to the head from a 12 gauge
double-barreled shotgun A double-barreled shotgun is a break-action shotgun with two parallel barrels, allowing two single shots to be fired in quick succession or simultaneously. Construction Modern double-barreled shotguns, often known as ''doubles'', are almost u ...
. No one else was found in the house.


Casualties

At the time of the incident, Mitchell had injured 14 people, mostly children. Most were treated at local hospitals. One of the first children to fall under the attack was 10-year-old Shala Eubanks. A schoolyard supervisor, Albert Jones, 50, made several attempts to reach her, but every time he approached, he was fired upon and forced to take cover. Eubanks was carried into a classroom by two LAPD officers. Two paramedics tried to save her, but their efforts were in vain. She died on the classroom floor. By late Friday night, three other casualties were in guarded but stable condition, another was in good condition, and the rest had been released from hospitals after treatment of minor injuries. Carlos Lopez, 24, who had been jogging past the school when the shooting began, suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen and underwent surgery at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, where most of his
pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an end ...
and
spleen The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes .
were removed. Lopez was listed in "guarded" condition for eight weeks until it worsened and he died on April 13.Man wounded by sniper dies
''
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'' (April 15, 1984)


Victims


Killed

* Shala Eubanks, 10, shot, died within hours * Carlos Lopez, 24, born and raised in
Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...
, Mexico, moved to Los Angeles when he was 16 performing work at a factory. Passerby, suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen, pancreas and spleen, underwent surgery at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, died on April 13, 1984


Injured

* Anna Gonzales, 8, shot in the
intestine The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans ...
, one
kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...
destroyed, underwent several hours of surgery at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital * Stephen Gomez, 9, wounded when gunfire ricocheted from the pavement, striking him in the right side of his abdomen, chest and leg, did not require surgery, treated at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital * Iran Macias, 10, admitted in good condition to Orthopaedic Hospital * Albert Jones, 50, schoolyard supervisor, shotgun pellet wounds and other minor wounds, treated and released from Orthopaedic Hospital * Latreece Williams, 11, shotgun pellet wounds and other minor wounds, treated and released from Orthopaedic Hospital * Alicia Pena, 10, shotgun pellet wounds and other minor wounds, treated and released from Orthopaedic Hospital * Mayra Cruz, 10, shotgun pellet wounds and other minor wounds, treated and released from Orthopaedic Hospital * Jose Prado, 12, shotgun pellet wounds and other minor wounds, treated and released from Orthopaedic Hospital * Mario Hernandez, 9, minor wounds * Eloisa Cruz, 10, minor wounds * Jose Gavino, 11, minor wounds * Victoriano Ulloa, 11, minor wounds


Aftermath

A funeral service for Shala Eubanks was held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, February 29, at Roger Williams Baptist Church. Over a thousand people attended the ceremony, including Los Angeles school superintendent Harry Handler and members of the school board; school principal Charles Jackson, and almost 100 teachers and students. The funeral of Carlos Lopez was held on Saturday, April 21. Nearly 100 friends and relatives throughout the Los Angeles area, most of them factory workers like Lopez, gathered at Park Lawn Cemetery in the
City of Commerce Commerce is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 12,823 at the 2010 census, up from 12,568 at the 2000 census. It is usually referred to as the City of Commerce to distinguish it from the ...
. After the shooting, the LAPD convened a
board of inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal commission in that ...
, with representatives from the city and county's Fire, Mental Health, and Health Services departments and advocacy groups for the
mentally ill A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
to study whether Mitchell's violent outburst might have been predicted or prevented. In 1991, California passed a law that mandated a 15-day (later 10-day) waiting period for the sale of rifles and shotguns and a background check on the buyer of the weapon.


Motive

Mitchell's motive remains unclear. According to his uncle, Mitchell had been in the house all day on the day of the shooting. Many believe that his actions were linked to the deaths of his immediate family at Jonestown. A
toxicological Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expos ...
study of Mitchell's body fluids postmortem by the
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
found no PCP or other illegal drugs, and only a small amount of alcohol, .03%, less than a third of the legal limit.


See also

*
List of rampage killers (school massacres) This list of school massacres by death toll contains those cases that occurred at kindergartens, schools and universities, as well as their affiliated buildings. If the perpetrator was a member of the school staff and the victims primarily their ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Tyrone 1955 births 1984 suicides 1984 deaths 20th-century American criminals American murderers of children California State University, Long Beach alumni Criminals from Alabama Criminals from Los Angeles Murder–suicides in California Murder–suicides in the United States People from Montgomery County, Alabama Peoples Temple Suicides by firearm in California 20th-century African-American people Mass shootings involving AR-15–style rifles