Starburst Lounge shooting

1980 El Paso shooting
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Location	31°45′33″N106°29′19″W / 31.75917°N 106.48861°W / 31.75917; -106.48861 5030 Fairbanks Drive, El Paso, Texas, United States
Date	February 3, 1980 ~1:45 a.m. (MDT)
Attack type	Mass shooting, Mass murder
Weapons	.22-caliber Marlin Model 60 semi-automatic rifle [1]
Deaths	5
Injured	3
Perpetrator	Barry Chvarak
Motive	Thrill killing

On February 3, 1980, a mass shooting occurred at the Starburst Lounge bar in El Paso, Texas. 21-year-old Barry Chvarak, armed with a .22-caliber Marlin Model 60 semi-automatic rifle, killed five and injured three others before being arrested. ^[1] The victims were Randy Steele, 20, Kathleen Austin, 32, Marianne Laweka, 53, Jana Carpenter, 29 and Fredrick ^[2] Bergford, 28. In July 1980, Chvarak pleaded guilty to the crime. ^[3] He was then sentenced to five consecutive life sentences. ^{[4] [5]}

It was the deadliest mass shooting in El Paso County until the 2019 El Paso shooting. ^[6]

See also

• 2019 El Paso shooting
• 1984 Dallas nightclub shooting
• List of massacres in the United States
• List of mass shootings in the United States
• List of shootings in Texas

References

1. "A Story of Mass Violence". kxan.com.
2. "Fredrick James Bergford - Ancestry®". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved February 3, 2026.
3. Ruiz, Rick (July 8, 1980). "Murderer pleads guilty, gets 5 life terms". El Paso Times. Newspapers.com. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
4. "Starburst Lounge mass shooting killed five in 1987 in El Paso bar". El Paso Times. February 11, 2020.
5. "1980 Northeast El Paso shooting stands as one of Texas' first mass murders". ktsm.com. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
6. "Two mass shootings in one Texas town, decades apart". everythinglubbock.com. Retrieved November 18, 2019.