1982 — Sep 25, George Banks family shooting spree, Jenkins Twp./Wilkes-Barre, PA — 13

— 13  AP. “Murder suspect an ex-con…prison guard.” Evening Sun, Hanover, PA, 9-27-1982, 4.

— 13  Duwe, Grant.  Mass Murder in the United States: A History. McFarland, 2007, p. 28.

— 13  Lounsberry. “Judge to Weigh Mental State of Killer…” Philadelphia Inquirer, 1-31-2006.

 

 

Narrative Information

 

Lounsberry: George Banks was convicted…“for killing his 5 children, four current or former girlfriends and four others in a deadly rampage in Wilkes-Barre. Banks has said he wanted to protect his children from suffering the abuse he encountered as a biracial child.” (Lounsberry. Jan 31, 2006.)

 

“George Emil Banks was on leave from his job as a prison guard when he borrowed an AR-15 assault rifle and shot to death 13 people, including five of his children.  The shooting spree, in the Northeastern Pennsylvania city of Wilkes-Barre, remains the worst killing rampage by one person in state history. Banks was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to death after an unsuccessful insanity defense.”  (Lounsberry. Jan 31, 2006.)

 

Newspapers

 

Sep 27: “Harrisburg (AP) — George Banks lived down his criminal record and was regarded as a good worker by superiors at the state correctional Institution at Camp Hill. But Banks, who sat alone in a watch tower with a shotgun for eight hours a day, was not that well know, interviews with prison guards and officials indicated. He spent a lot of time isolated from other people. His low profile and isolation ended Saturday after he was held in connection with a shooting spree in Wilkes-Barre and nearby Jenkins Township that left 13 people dead and one person critically injured….

 

“State Bureau of Corrections spokesman Ken Robinson said personnel files reviewed by a prison official showed Banks had served 7½ years in the maximum security prison at Graterford for attempted robbery. Court records said the conviction stemmed from the shooting of a Scranton bartender during a robbery attempt….

 

“Banks apparently stayed with his mother in Harrisburg during the week and commuted home to his family in Wilkes-Barre on weekends…

 

“According to a newspaper clipping, a 21-year-old inmate, George Banks of Wilkes-Barre, escaped from Graterford in 1964 while on a farm detail but was recaptured within two hours. That Banks was reported serving six to 15 years for robbery, felonious assault with intent to kill, burglary and larceny….” (Associated Press. “Murder suspect an ex-con and a state prison guard.” Evening Sun, Hanover, PA, 9-27-1982, p. 4.)

 

Sep 27: “Details surrounding 13 slayings early Saturday [Sep 25] remain sketchy, but reports from sources and police, who have charged George Banks of Wilkes-Barre in the case, yielded this account of the events.

“Approximately 2:15 a.m. — A loud bang that sounds like someone kicking in a door is heard at the Heather Highlands Mobile Home village in Jenkins Township, and a man yells, ‘Where’s my children?’

 

“Approximately 2:20 a.m. — Four gunshots ring out, and a man shouts, ‘I’m going to kill all of you.’ 2:29 a.m. — police get a call from Angelo Mazzillo, 9, who has taken the phone receiver out of the lifeless hand of his mother, Alice Mazzillo, to report the slayings. Police later find two women and two children shot to death in the trailer.

 

“Approximately 2:45 a.m. — The suspect arrives at a home on Schoolhouse Lane in Wilkes-Barre. Raymond Hall, 24, of Wilkes-Barre, and James Olsen, 22, of Plains Township, are shot as they leave a party across the street.

 

“3 a.m. — Wilkes-Barre police receive a report of a shooting. They find three women and four children shot to death at the home..

 

“3:30 a.m. — Hall dies at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. Olsen would survive, in critical condition.

 

“Approximately 5 a.m. — The suspect arrives at his mother’s home and drives off in a green sedan. 6:15 a.m. — Police receive a report saying the suspect had barricaded himself in a vacant hours on Monroe street. 7:20 a.m. — Police arrive, surround the house, seal off the area and shut off the power. 9 1.m. — Police break the tense silence with a plea: ‘George, come on out…We’ll take you down to the hospital…We’re not going to hurt you.’ Mid-morning — The suspect tells a friend, Robert Brunson, that ‘it was a good day to die.’ 11:17 a.m. — The suspect hands his gun through a window, says, ‘Don’t shoot’ and surrenders….” (Evening Sun, Hanover, PA. “Chronology: A bloody night.” 9-27-1982, p. 4.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Murder suspect an ex-con and a state prison guard.” Evening Sun, Hanover, PA, 9-27-1982, p. 4. Accessed 5-12-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hanover-evening-sun-sep-27-1982-p-4/?tag

 

Duwe, Grant. Mass Murder in the United States: A History. McFarland, 2007.

 

Evening Sun, Hanover, PA. “Chronology: A bloody night.” 9-27-1982, p. 4. Accessed 5-12-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hanover-evening-sun-sep-27-1982-p-4/?tag

 

Lounsberry, Emilie. “Judge to Weigh Mental State of Killer of 14 on Death Row” Philadelphia Inquirer. 1-31-2006.