On December 26, 2000, a

mass shooting A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...

occurred at Edgewater Technology in

Wakefield, Massachusetts Wakefield is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston, greater Boston metropolitan area, municipal corporation, incorporated in 1812 in the United States, 1812 and located about north-nor ...

, United States. Michael Morgan McDermott, an employee at Edgewater Technology, shot and killed seven of his coworkers. It is the deadliest workplace shooting in Massachusetts history.

Shooting

The weapons he used were an AK-47 variant, a 12-gauge

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, 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 discharges numerous small ...

and a .32 caliber

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

. He fired off a total of 37 rounds, shooting his victims in the back of the head repeatedly. Police later found a .460-calibre

Weatherby Mark V The Weatherby Mark V is a centerfire, bolt-action rifle manufactured by Weatherby of Sheridan, Wyoming. The rifle was introduced in 1957 by Weatherby and was designed to safely contain the high pressures associated with the Weatherby line of high ...

rifle in McDermott's locker. He was found by police sitting calmly and stated that he did not speak

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. At trial, he stated that he was born without a soul and that God had allowed him to earn a soul by traveling back in time to kill

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. However, the prosecution asserted that the killings were motivated by his employer's garnishment of his wages for the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

in order to pay

back taxes Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not completely paid when due. Typically, these are taxes that are owed from a previous year. Causes for back taxes include failure to pay taxes by the deadline, failure to correctly report one's income, or ...

that he owed. Evidence also showed that he had researched how to fake mental illness.

Legal proceedings

McDermott was found guilty of seven counts of

first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

on April 24, 2002, after the jury deliberated for 16 hours across three days. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

. On April 13, 2007, an appeal filed by McDermott, asking for his conviction to be overturned, was denied. The appeal claimed that a prosecution witness mentioning

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

was unfair and should have led to a declared mistrial, that the jury was badly instructed, and that the judge should not have allowed certain evidence to be used. The appeal was denied by the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously fu ...

on the grounds that, due to the length of his trial and the large amount of evidence against him, the result of his trial would have been the same,

Fatalities

*Jennifer Bragg Capobianco, 29, marketing *Janice Hagerty, 46, office manager *Louis A. Javelle, 58, director of consulting *Rose Manfredi, 48, payroll *Paul Marceau, 36, development technician *Cheryl Troy, 50, human resources director *Craig Wood, 29, human resources

Perpetrator

Michael Morgan McDermott was born Michael McDermod Martinez in

Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth ( ; historically also spelled as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in and the county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklor ...

, on September 4, 1958, and grew up in nearby Marshfield. He was the second of four children to Richard and Rosemary ( Reardon) Martinez, who both worked as teachers. In 1976, he graduated from Marshfield High, where he was rather popular among his peers according to a former classmate. Shortly after graduating high school, McDermott enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and served for six years as an electrician's mate, most of which was spent on the USS ''Narwhal''. He was eventually honorably discharged with the rank of electrician's mate

petty officer second class Petty officer second class (PO2) is a rank found in some navies and maritime organizations. Canada Petty officer, 2nd class, (PO 2), is a Naval non-commissioned member rank of the Canadian Forces. It is senior to the rank of master sailor (f ...

. From 1982 to 1988, McDermott worked for the

Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power plant built at an 820-acre site on Bailey Peninsula of Wiscasset, Maine, in the United States. It operated from 1972 until 1996, when problems at the plant became too expensive to fix. It was ...

. He then moved to

Weymouth, Massachusetts Weymouth is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is one of 13 municipalities in the state to have city forms of government while retaining "town of" in their official names. It is named after Weymouth, Dorset, a coastal town ...

, and began work in

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

for

Duracell Duracell Inc. is an American manufacturer of alkaline batteries, specialty cells, and rechargeables; it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 2016. The company has its origins in the 1920s, through the work of Samuel Ruben a ...

. In 1992, McDermott married Monica Sheehan. They divorced several years later. Around this time, McDermott began to gain significant weight. In 2000, after Duracell announced that it would soon move to

Bethel, Connecticut Bethel () is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the town was 20,358. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connect ...

, McDermott resigned and later joined Edgewater Technology that same year. In October 2000, McDermott moved out of his apartment in South Weymouth after failing to pay his rent, leaving the residence in a derelict state and owing the landlord $1,720. He then moved into an apartment in Haverhill. It later emerged that, in addition to his other financial troubles, McDermott had owed roughly $5,000 in back taxes to the IRS and that Edgewater Technology had withheld a portion of his wages in order to comply with an order by the IRS. As of 2024, McDermott was incarcerated at

Old Colony Correctional Center Old Colony Correctional Center is a Massachusetts Department of Correction men's prison in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The medium security facility is located in a plot of land in the Bridgewater Correctional Complex with the Bridgewater Stat ...

Bridgewater, Massachusetts Bridgewater is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city's population was 28,633. The historic town center of Bridgewater is located approximately south of Boston, Massachusetts and approxima ...

Media references

McDermott is cited in the 2003 psychology book ''Why We Hate''. In 2008, his case was studied on the psychology program ''

Most Evil ''Most Evil'' is an American forensics television program on Investigation Discovery, first aired in 2006, presented by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael H. Stone of Columbia University during the program's first three seasons, and by forensi ...

''.

Commemorations

cherry tree A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The name ...

was planted outside of Edgewater Technology's offices in Wakefield in memory of the seven victims. Every December,

carnation ''Dianthus caryophyllus'' ( ), commonly known as carnation or clove pink, is a species of ''Dianthus'' native to the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean region. Its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive cultivation over the last 2,00 ...

flowers are woven into the branches in their memory.

References

External links

7 Die in Rampage at Company; Co-Worker of Victims Arrested
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' (December 27, 2000)
A Deadly Turn to a Normal Work Day
''The New York Times'' (December 28, 2000)
7 Die in Massachusetts Office Shooting
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' (December 27, 2000)
In Wake of Killings, Strands of Suspect's Life
''The New York Times'' (December 28, 2000)
Gunman kills 7 at net firm
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' (December 27, 2000)
McDermott found guilty of Edgewater murders: Judge sentences him to seven consecutive life sentences
''

The Daily News Transcript ''The Daily News Transcript'' (formerly known as the ''Dedham Transcript'' and the ''Neponset Valley Daily News'') was a five-day (Monday through Friday) afternoon daily newspaper in Norwood, Massachusetts, U.S., covering the Neponset Valley of ...

'' (April 24, 2002) {{WakefieldMA Massacres in 2000 2000 in Massachusetts 2000 murders in the United States 2000 mass shootings in the United States Attacks in the United States in 2000 Deaths by firearm in Massachusetts December 2000 crimes in the United States History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts Mass shootings in Massachusetts Mass shootings in the United States Murder in Massachusetts Wakefield, Massachusetts Workplace violence in the United States Mass shootings involving shotguns