On December 14, 1992, 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
Bard College at Simon's Rock
Bard College at Simon's Rock (more commonly known as Simon's Rock) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is part of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudso ...
in
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Great Barrington is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bot ...
, United States. A student and a professor were killed, and four others were injured, before the gunman, 18-year-old Wayne Lo, surrendered to police. He is currently serving two
life sentence
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...
s plus 20 years.
Events
Prior to the shooting
On the morning of December 14, 1992, Simon's Rock receptionist Teresa Beavers searched a package addressed to Wayne Lo from the North Carolina company Classic Arms and found
7.62 caliber ammunition inside the package.
She notified college residence directors and called for an investigation of Lo's dormitory. Residence director Katherine Robinson went to Lo's dormitory and asked Lo if she could see the contents of the package.
[ Lo refused, and Robinson informed the associate dean of students. Robinson returned to Lo's dormitory with her husband and searched his room but found no weapons or ammunition. Lo told them the ammunition was a Christmas gift for his father; Lo was sent to the dean's office, and later the dean dismissed him, suspecting he was not possessing any weapons on the school campus. Reports were inconsistent, as other students had made complaints about Lo stockpiling ammunition in his dormitory. Chris Lucht, associate dean, had allegedly refused to investigate.][
That night, an anonymous person phoned school officials, claiming that Lo was armed with weapons and was going to kill members of the Robinson family. The caller identified himself as another student with whom Lo had dinner that night. The Robinsons contacted the college provost, Ba Win, and went with their children to stay at Win's home in ]Lee, Massachusetts
Lee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, metropolitan statistical area. The population was 5,788 at the 2020 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is ...
. There they called the dean to locate Lo; no precaution was taken, however, and the police were never notified. Lo was hiding the ammunition which he had ordered two days earlier.[
]
Shooting
On December 14, at around 10:00 a.m. Lo travelled by taxi to Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...
, and purchased a SKS
The SKS () is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov in the 1940s.
The SKS was first produced in the Soviet Union but was later widely exported and manufactured by various nations. Its disting ...
semi-automatic rifle
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single round each time the Trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled while automatically loading the next Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. These rifles were developed Pre-World War II, and w ...
at Dave's Sporting Goods store. The shooting began at approximately 10:20 p.m. in the school security area. He shot Theresa Beavers twice in the abdomen, and later fatally shot a Spanish language
Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
professor Ñacuñán Sáez while he was driving his Ford Festiva
The Ford Festiva is a four passenger, three-door, front-drive subcompact car manufactured in South Korea by Kia, under license from Mazda and marketed by Ford for model years 1986–2002 over three generations in Japan, the Americas, and Austral ...
. Lo then fatally shot student Galen Gibson who had left the library to assist whoever had crashed their car, unaware that there was a gunman on campus. Lo also wounded another student. Afterward, Lo walked towards a dormitory where he wounded two freshmen students. Lo's rifle jammed and he dropped his weapon before he walked to the student union building and phoned police to tell them of his actions. Lo surrendered to police without further incident.
Victims
Those killed in the shooting were student Galen Gibson, 18, and professor Ñacuñán Sáez, 37. Gibson was a poetry major from Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...
, while Sáez was an Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
-born Spanish professor. Those wounded were the security guard Theresa Beavers, 42, and students Thomas McElderry, 19, Joshua A. Faber, 17, and Matthew Lee David, 18.
Perpetrator
Wayne Lo ( zh, first=t, t=駱文;) was born in Tainan
Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "Taiwan Prefecture, ...
, Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, to Chia Wei Lo, a fighter pilot, and Lin Lin Lo, a violin teacher, both Mainland Chinese
Mainland Chinese or mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC) ...
immigrants to Taiwan. The Lo family moved to the United States in spring 1981, living in a suburban neighborhood in Rockville, Maryland
Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...
, while Chia Wei Lo was assigned to a diplomatic post in Washington, D.C. While living in Maryland, the 7-year-old Lo became a violinist with the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra.
His family returned to Taiwan in 1983, after Chia-Wei relinquished his position that year. The family later settled in northwest Billings, Montana
Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...
, in summer 1987. His parents later managed the Great Wall Chinese restaurant at Grand Avenue in Billings. He attended Lewis & Clark Junior High School in Billings for seventh to eighth grade, before attending Billings Central Catholic High School for his freshman and sophomore year. Lo was a violinist in the Billings Symphony Orchestra beginning at age fourteen. He attended the Aspen Music Festival
The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado.
It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, th ...
in 1990 and studied under the prominent violin teacher Dorothy DeLay
Dorothy DeLay (March 31, 1917 – March 24, 2002) was an American violin teacher, instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Cincinnati.
Life
Dorothy DeLay was born on March 31, 1917, in Medic ...
. Lo had a GPA
Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...
of 3.56 in his sophomore year.[
In April 1991, Lo was accepted by Simon's Rock College of Bard in ]Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Great Barrington is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bot ...
, and given the W.E.B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.
Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...
minority scholarship, beginning fall classes that September. He had wanted to attend a boarding school to estrange himself from his father. While attending Simon's Rock, Lo expressed racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
and fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
beliefs.[ He wrote an essay arguing for segregation of ]homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
s to prevent the spread of AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
, and denied the existence of the Holocaust. Other students reported being uncomfortable with his expression of these beliefs.
Trial, conviction, and incarceration
Lo's month-long trial took place at the Hampden County Superior Court in Springfield, Massachusetts (it was moved from Berkshire county to adjoining Hampden county at the request of the defense lawyers, in order to avoid jury bias). Although claims were made by the media prior to the trial regarding Lo's supposed racist beliefs, he was never charged with a hate crime
Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...
, and the racism accusations were never substantiated. Instead, the focus turned to his mental state at the time of the shooting as Lo made an insanity plea
The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a psychiatric disease at the time of the criminal act. ...
. His psychiatrists testified that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia
Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, hearing voices), delusions, disorganized thinking and behavior, and flat or inappropriate affect. Symptoms develop gradually and typically begin ...
, while a court-appointed psychiatrist attributed Lo's actions merely to Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a life-long pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathy, empathize w ...
.
On February 3, 1994, Lo was found guilty on all 17 charges against him and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole. In 2024, 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 ...
banned life without parole sentences for crimes committed by offenders under the age of 21. However, Lo waived his right to a resentencing hearing, stating in an affidavit that he believed his original sentence was "fair and proportional to the horrific crimes I committed." He listed the names of all of the people whom he'd shot, both fatally and non-fatally.
Lo spent nine months at a maximum security facility at Walpole, Massachusetts
Walpole is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Walpole Town, as the Census refers to it, is located approximately south of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, and north of Providence, Rhode Island. The population of Walpole was ...
, from February to November 1994. He was later transferred to MCI-Norfolk, a medium security prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts
Norfolk ( , locally ) is a New England town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, with a population of 11,662 people at the 2020 census. Formerly known as Wrentham, Massachusetts, North Wrentham, Norfolk broke away to become an indepe ...
.
Aftermath
In 1999, Gregory Gibson, the father of victim Galen Gibson, wrote ''Gone Boy: A Walkabout'', a detailed book recounting the shooting. The book spurred correspondence between Gibson and Lo, which was detailed in a ''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 ...
'' article, as well as a German TV documentary film. In a February 2013 episode of PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
's ''Need to Know
The term "need to know" (alternatively spelled need-to-know), when used by governments and other organizations (particularly those related to military or intelligence), describes the restriction of data which is considered very confidential and ...
'', journalist Maria Hinojosa reported, "In fact, in an interview with ''Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' in 2007 after 32 people were killed in the Virginia Tech
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...
shootings ... Wayne Lo said: 'The fact that I was able to buy a rifle in 15 minutes, that's absurd. I was 18. I couldn't have rented a car to drive home from school, yet I could purchase a rifle. Obviously a waiting period would be great. Personally, I only had five days left of school before winter break ... If I had a two-week waiting period for the gun, I wouldn't have done it. In December 2017, Lo was interviewed by Gibson. In the video, Lo explains how easy it is to legally obtain a semi-automatic rifle
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single round each time the Trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled while automatically loading the next Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. These rifles were developed Pre-World War II, and w ...
in the United States.
Lo wore a sweatshirt with the name of the New York City hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
band Sick of It All
Sick of It All is an American hardcore punk band formed in 1986 in Queens, New York City. The band's lineup consists of brothers Lou and Pete Koller on lead vocals and guitars respectively, Armand Majidi on drums, and Craig Setari on bass. Sic ...
during the shooting. This spurred the band to issue press releases denouncing Lo's crimes. The journalist Chuck Klosterman
Charles John Klosterman (; born June 5, 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for ''Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magaz ...
wrote a passage in his book, '' Killing Yourself to Live'', in which Wayne Lo writes Klosterman a letter from prison contemplating what questions might have been raised if Lo were arrested wearing a T-shirt with the bands Poison
A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
or Warrant instead of Sick of It All.
Jonathan Fast’s detailing of the shooting in ''Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Explanation of School Shootings'' led to Gibson publishing an article regarding allegations of plagiarized
Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of anothe ...
passages taken directly from ''Gone Boy: A Walkabout''.
Through an intermediary, Lo sold art he made in prison, donating proceeds to The Galen Gibson Fund.
Lo was an inspiration for the 2019 feature film '' Cuck'' by director Rob Lambert. Rob rode the school bus with Wayne while they both lived in Billings, Montana.
References
External links
*
''Gone Boy'' official site
SkidLo.net Wayne Lo's official website
''Amok'' official site
Interview with Lo about the VT massacre
RLI Insurance Company vs. Simon's Rock Early College and others, Massachusetts Superior Court opinion
Insurance litigation judgment includes details of the incident's circumstances (via FindLaw
FindLaw is a business of Internet Brands that provides online legal information in the form of state laws, case law and codes, legal blogs and articles, a lawyer directory, DIY legal services and products, and other legal resources. The compa ...
)
Wayne Lo
at Hyaena Gallery.com
Flushy.us
''Need to Knows "Echoes of a Shooting"
"Meeting the man who killed my son"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bard College at Simon's Rock shooting, 1992
1992 in Massachusetts
1992 mass shootings in the United States
1992 murders in the United States
Attacks on schools in 1992
December 1992 crimes in the United States
Bard College
Deaths by firearm in Massachusetts
December 1992 in the United States
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Mass shootings in Massachusetts
Murder in Massachusetts
University and college killings in the United States
University and college shootings in the United States
School shootings committed by pupils