William Ray Bonner

Last updated
William Ray Bonner
William Ray Bonner.jpg
Born
William Ray Bonner

(1948-03-28) March 28, 1948 (age 76)
OccupationUnemployed
ParentJames A. Bonner
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment
Details
DateApril 22, 1973
2:35 p.m. 3:29 p.m.
Location(s)Los Angeles, California, United States
Killed7
Injured9
Weapons Handgun
20-gauge pump-action shotgun

William Ray Bonner (born March 28, 1948) is a former service station attendant who went on a shooting spree through the South Side area of Los Angeles, California, on April 22, 1973, killing six people and wounding nine others. The rampage ended with his arrest after he had been injured in a shootout with police.

Contents

Bonner was sentenced to life imprisonment later the same year and is currently an inmate at California State Prison in Vacaville. [1] [2]

Shooting spree

The shooting began at Bonner's home at approximately 2:35 p.m. after he had gotten into an argument with Otha Leavitt, a friend of his mother, who had paid them a short visit to make a phone call. Enraged, he went outside and, with a handgun, fired a shot each at 16-year-old Anthony Thomas and 17-year-old Carolyn Cleveland, who had accompanied Mrs. Leavitt and waited in her car. Leaving the two teenagers severely wounded Bonner returned inside and killed Otha Leavitt with a shot in the head, before hijacking her Plymouth Valiant, which by then had been vacated by Thomas and Cleveland.

Armed with his handgun and a 20-gauge pump-action shotgun, Bonner drove to a gas station about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from his home, where he had been employed previously as a service station attendant. Arriving there at about 2:43 p.m. he approached the occupants of a Chevrolet Impala, 18-year-old Vicky Wells and her 13-year-old sister Aileen, both known to him since their early childhood. He shot Vicky in the back with his shotgun, critically wounding her and killed Aileen, also by a shot in the back, when she was running towards the service area. [3]

Bonner then sped away to another nearby gas station, his workplace until one week prior to the shooting spree, where he arrived at 2:45 p.m. Carrying his shotgun he entered the service bay area where he called out for his friend and former colleague, Raleigh Henderson, who had helped him get the job there. When Henderson turned around Bonner shot him once in the stomach and then fired again when Henderson exclaimed "What have I done?" [3] Pointing at the body on the floor Bonner asked service station attendant James Morrow: "Do you know if anyone wants some of that?" [4] He approached a female customer, fired a shot in the air and then left for the home of Jevie Thompson, with whose son, Vernon, he'd had an argument with the night before. Bonner arrived there about 5 minutes later and killed Jevie Thompson with a shotgun blast in the stomach, and critically wounded his wife, Eddie Mae, as well as his 15-year-old son Alfred.

Bonner's next stop was Smitty's Drive-In Liquors, where he appeared at 3:14 p.m. Believing he had been short-changed there once, he killed the shop owner, Smitty Sneed, again with a shot in the stomach, and wounded a customer, 58-year-old Duly Oscar Bennett, in the shoulder, before heading towards Liquorama Liquors, where he shot and critically wounded 23-year-old employee Robert L. Smith with a shot in the stomach, and hit 28-year-old Roosevelt D. Jenkins, another employee, in the leg.

A couple of minutes later Bonner barged into the house of his former girlfriend, 22-year-old Diane Lore Andrea, who had taken the side of Vernon Thompson during the argument the day before, and ended their relationship afterwards. He shot her in the neck with his shotgun, severing her jugular vein and spinal cord. She died instantly. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Chase and arrest

Bonner eluded police until 3:25 p.m. when he was spotted in his car by two patrolling police officers, blocking their way out of an alley. Bonner pointed his shotgun at them and repeatedly pulled the trigger, but when it failed to shoot he threw it away and sped off, while the police officers fired four shots at him and initiated pursuit. When Bonner crashed his Plymouth into the rear of the car of 45-year-old Mary Felton, who had stopped at a traffic light, he jumped out of his own vehicle and into the back seat of hers. Threatening her and her two daughters with his pistol he ordered her to drive.

The scene was observed by security guard Versell Bennett who then took up pursuit in his car and eventually managed to force them to stop. Bennett then left his vehicle armed with his shotgun and opened fire at Bonner, who then shot at him in return. When police finally caught up with Bonner, a shootout ensued in which he was hit five times in his legs and lower body. Some officers apparently aimed their fire at Bennett first, mistaking him for the gunman. He was hit twice in the head and shoulders and succumbed to these wounds four days later. [9] Mrs. Felton also suffered minor injuries in the shoulder. [10] At 3:29 p.m. [11] Bonner was taken into custody and brought to Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center for treatment. [5] [6] [7] [12]

Perpetrator

Bonner was described by his neighbors and acquaintances as a nice and quiet young man who kept to himself. According to a former coworker at a gas station he never caused any trouble there, stating that, in some respects, he was one of the best. [3] [13] Herman English, who would later become his defense attorney and knew him for 10 years, said of Bonner that he had been a submissive, kind and easy going person, but after the shooting was "completely different mentally." [14]

According to police files Bonner had been arrested six times since 1966 in connection with narcotics, assault and grand theft auto. In the most serious case he was sentenced to three years probation for assaulting a police officer. [15]

Bonner's father, James A. Bonner, related to a newspaper that his son had connections to "some kind of Mafia gang" which had made threats against him and his family in the days prior to the shooting. [16]

Victims Killed

Trial and conviction

Preliminary hearings for the case opened in July [17] and on August 21 Bonner was formally charged with seven counts of murder, eight counts of assault with a deadly weapon and three counts of kidnapping, whereupon he pleaded innocent and innocent by reason of insanity. [18] [19] On November 13 Bonner changed his mind and pleaded guilty to one count each of first degree murder, second degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon [20] and a month later, on December 17, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. [21]

As of November 2016, he is still an inmate at California State Prison in Solano.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Edward Pough</span> American spree killer

James Edward "Pop" Pough was an American spree killer who killed thirteen people in two separate attacks in Jacksonville, Florida on 17 and 18 June 1990. Pough shot and killed two people at random on Jacksonville's Northside, wounded two teenagers, and robbed a convenience store. Pough shot and killed nine people and wounded four others at a General Motors Acceptance Corporation car loan office the next day before committing suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trolley Square shooting</span> Mass shooting at shopping mall in Utah, US

The Trolley Square shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on the evening of February 12, 2007, at Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. A gunman identified as Sulejman Talović killed five bystanders and wounded four others before being shot dead by several members of the Salt Lake City Police Department. Authorities were not able to determine a motive.

The Central Coast massacre was a shooting spree killing that occurred on the evening of 27 October 1992 on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia when 45-year-old motor mechanic Malcolm Baker killed six people and an unborn child, and injured one other person. On 6 August 1993, Baker was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the six murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Dornier</span> French mass murderer

Christian Dornier is a French mass murderer who murdered his sister and mother and wounded his father with a 12-gauge double-barrelled shotgun at their farm on July 12, 1989. He then drove through the village of Luxiol and the adjacent area, shooting people at random. A total of fourteen people were killed and eight others injured in Dornier's half-hour rampage, before police managed to subdue him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geneva County shootings</span> Mass shooting in Geneva and Samson, Alabama

On March 10, 2009, Michael Kenneth McLendon, 28, fatally shot ten people and wounded six others between the communities of Kinston, Samson, and Geneva, Alabama. McLendon's shooting spree was the deadliest mass shooting in Alabama's history.

The Carthage nursing home shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on March 29, 2009, when a gunman opened fire at Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation, a 120-bed nursing home in Carthage, North Carolina, United States. The shooter, 45-year-old Robert Kenneth Stewart, killed eight people, including a nurse at the home, and wounded a ninth. He was shot and apprehended by the responding police officer, who was also wounded by gunfire. It was the worst mass shooting in North Carolina's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cumbria shootings</span> 2010 shooting spree in Cumbria, England

The Cumbria shootings were a shooting spree that occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, taxi driver Derrick Bird, killed twelve people and injured eleven others in Cumbria, England, United Kingdom. Along with the 1987 Hungerford massacre and the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, it is one of the worst criminal acts involving firearms in British history. The shootings ended when Bird killed himself in a wooded area after abandoning his car in the village of Boot.

The Monkseaton shootings occurred on 30 April 1989 in Monkseaton, Tyne & Wear, England, when Robert Sartin killed one man and left 16 other people injured during a 20-minute shooting spree.

On July 7, 2011, a gunman killed seven people and wounded two others in a spree killing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The deaths took place in two homes, with the two non-fatal gunshot injuries taking place on the road. The suspected gunman, Rodrick Shonte Dantzler, later killed himself after a police chase which left his vehicle disabled in a highway woodline and after he then took hostages in a nearby house for several hours. Those killed included Dantzler's estranged wife, their daughter, his former girlfriend, and members of the other victims' families. One of the non-fatal victims was also acquainted with Dantzler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynwood Drake</span> American mass murderer

Lynwood Crumpler Drake III was an American spree killer who killed six people and wounded one other at two homes in Morro Bay and a card-playing club in Paso Robles, California, United States on November 7, 1992. He then drove to another house in San Miguel, where he took the owner hostage, before committing suicide the next morning.

A spree shooting occurred in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča in the early hours of 9 April 2013. Fourteen people were killed and one, the gunman's wife, was injured. Police identified the gunman as 60-year-old Ljubiša Bogdanović, a relative of many of the victims. Bogdanović died of his injuries two days later on 11 April 2013.

On February 26, 2015, a gunman shot and killed seven people in several locations across the town of Tyrone, an unincorporated community approximately 95 miles east of Springfield, Missouri, United States. The gunman, identified as 36-year-old Joseph Jesse Aldridge, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound the next day. It was the worst mass murder in the history of Texas County, which previously had experienced an average of one homicide per year. It is also the deadliest mass shooting in Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Fresno shootings</span> Racially motivated shooting spree in Fresno, California

On April 18, 2017, a racially motivated shooting spree occurred in Fresno, California, leaving three white people dead. The gunman, Kori Ali Muhammad, a black supremacist, was convicted of four murders and four attempted murders. Muhammad said he went on his shooting spree because of his hatred for white people and particularly white men. Muhammad fired off 17 shots, shooting and killing three men, shooting at and missing another three men, and shooting at a vehicle with passengers inside. The passengers of the vehicle were unharmed. All of Muhammad's victims were white.

On January 10, 2001, a shooting spree took place in Nevada County, California when 40-year-old Scott Harlan Thorpe opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol killing three people and wounding three others in two separate shootings in the Nevada County area. The victims were 19-year-old Laura Wilcox, 68-year-old Pearlie Mae Feldman, and 24-year-old Mike Markle. The shooting spree led to the implementation of Laura's Law, a California state law that allows for court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment. The law was named after Laura Wilcox, one of the victims of the shooting spree. Michael Moore's 2002 documentary film Bowling for Columbine was dedicated to Wilcox's memory.

A mass shooting occurred on Danforth Avenue in the Greektown neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the night of July 22, 2018. Faisal Hussain killed two people and wounded thirteen using a Smith & Wesson M&P .40-calibre handgun. He died by suicide after a shootout with Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers. Despite a year long investigation, authorities were unable to determine a motive for the shooting. They noted that Hussain had mental health issues and a long time obsession with violence.

On 4 June 2019, a mass shooting occurred in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The Northern Territory Police confirmed that four people were killed in the incident and another one was injured. A 45-year-old man, Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann, was arrested and subsequently convicted for murder and manslaughter.

On September 7, 2022, three people were killed and three others were injured after a gunman went on a shooting spree in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The attack was livestreamed on Facebook Live.

On 22 September 1976, a mass shooting and hostage crisis occurred on Boundary Street in Spring Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 36-year-old William Robert Wilson killed two people and wounded four others at random before taking five hostages. He surrendered to police after an hours-long standoff and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1980.

On January 9, 2021, 32-year-old Jason Nightengale shot and killed five people during a shooting spree that began on Chicago's South Side and ended in Evanston before being fatally shot by police.

The 1977 Bulawayo shooting was a spree shooting that occurred at two locations in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, on December 4, 1977. That day, Banda Khumalo, a 38-year-old off-duty policeman, shot 13 people to death and injured 13 to 16 others before being killed by a fellow police officer.

References

  1. Six slain, 10 hurt in L.A. shooting spree, Merced Sun-Star (April 23, 1973)
  2. LA Shootings claim six lives, The Press-Courier (April 23, 1973)
  3. 1 2 3 Gunman Bonner said to be "nice young man", Ellensburg Daily Record (April 23, 1973)
  4. Planned shotgun rampage kills 6 and wounds 10, The Argus-Press (April 23, 1973)
  5. 1 2 Shootings described as planned sequence, Wilmington Morning Star (April 24, 1973)
  6. 1 2 Murderous chase leaves six dead, The Bryan Times (April 23, 1973)
  7. 1 2 Love Spat Blamed for Spree in Which Gunman Killed Six, Los Angeles Times (April 23, 1973)
  8. Preimsberger, Duane: William "Easter" Bonner
  9. 7th Person Dead in Easter Shooting, Los Angeles Times (April 27, 1973)
  10. Broken Romance possible reason for shooting spree, The Press-Courier (April 24, 1973)
  11. Six killed in spree by robber, The Victoria Advocate (April 23, 1973)
  12. Berserk gunman kills 6, The Calgary Herald (April 23, 1973)
  13. Berserk gunman kills 6, wounds 9, The Star-Phoenix (April 23, 1973)
  14. Change in mental makeup noted in layer suspect, The Press-Courier (April 26, 1973)
  15. Full probe of mass slaying suspect ordered, Press-Telegram (April 25, 1973)
  16. Did spat cause 6 killings?, Pasadena Star-News (April 24, 1973)
  17. Murder charge, The Press-Courier (July 17, 1973)
  18. Formal charges, The Press-Courier (August 22, 1973)
  19. Innocence pleaded in 7 killings, Press-Telegram (August 29, 1973)
  20. Guilty plea in shooting spree, The Argus (November 14, 1973)
  21. Life in prison for mass killing, The Leader-Post (December 17, 1973)