Seven Killed, as Guhman Sprays Shots at College in California 1976

LOS ANGELES, July 12 —Seven persons were killed and two were seriously injured today when a 37‐year‐old janitor entered the basement of a college library and, methodically going from room to room, opened fire with a 22‐caliber automatic rifle, the police said.

The shooting occurred on the Fullerton campus of California State University, a modern, 225‐acre college lined with trees 25 miles south of Los Angeles.

Shortly after the shooting, policemen went to a Hilton Inn Hotel not far from the college and arrested Edward C. Alloway of Anaheim, a college employee. Friends described him as a likable man, a “loner” who had been brooding during the last few days because of difficulties with his wife. He was held on a murder charge at the Fullerton jail.

All of those killed were employees of the college. They were Seth Fessenden, professor emeritus of speech; Stephen L. Becker, 32, a son of the college's director of placement, who was employed at the school: Paul F. Herzberg, a college photographer; Bruce A. Jacobson, an audio‐visual technician; Donald Aarges, 41, a custodian; Debra Paulsen, 25, a custodian: and Frank Teplansky, 51, a graphics department employee.

About 5.000 students are attending summer sessions at the college but relatively few people were in the basement of the six‐story library when the shots rang out this morning.

According to witnesses, a man carrying a rifle suddenly appeared in the basement shortly before 7 A.M., in an area of special‐purpose activity rooms, containing audiovisual aids and special library facilities.

The assailant, said the witnesses, then went from room to room, loading his rifle as he went along, apparently firing indiscriminately, although it was not immediately established whether the gunman had in fact consciously selected his victims beforehand.

Some witnesses said the rapid fire of the weapon reminded them of a machine gun in a war movie, although others reported hearing only a “popping” noise that did not alarm them.

“Nobody believed they were gunshots,” said Demetra Bailey, a 14‐year‐old Fullerton girl who was on the campus to attend an Upward Bound summer training program. “We all thought it was firecrackers.”

Richard Corona, who was a coordinator of this program, said that when he heard the initial shots, he went into a hallway to investigate.

He said that a short, stocky man, whom he described as “looking like an all‐American boy,” brushed past him from a room where Mr. Corona could see 22 caliber cartridges strewn about the floor.

Mr. Corona said the man said: “He doesn't belong here; he doesn't belong here.” Then, he said, the man aimed a rifle at Mr. Carona and another Upward Bound counselor, Marcie Martinez, who had gone into the hall.

A moment passed. Then, without saying anything, the man lowered ths gun and ran in the opposite direction. Soon, Mr. Corona said, firing started again. “There was one bullet after another,” he said.

Mr. Corona said he went into a library room where 15 students were working and shouted: “Everybody has to get out of here; there's a crazy guy loose with a gun.” But, he said, “Nobody would listen to me.”

Meanwhile, people who had been walking quietly in the warren of basement rooms or were walking along corridors were cut down by the fire. Two of the victims staggered outside of the building, but died there; the others lay inside the library.

The employees who were in jured were Maynard Hoffman, 65, a custodial supervisor and Donald Karen, an associate librarian.

Mr. Alloway, who had worked for the college since May, 1975, was arrested at a hotel where his wife was employed, and one police official said he believed that he had been pleading with her for a reconciliation.

Amol Navarro, chief custodian at the university, said that Mr. Alloway was “a quiet type; whenever he went on a break, he would go alone and he never seemed to eat lunch with anyone but he did his work and he had a good attendance record. He's clean cut, and you never heard him cuss, or blame something that was wrong on someone else,” Mr. Navarro said.

He said that Mr. Alloway had seemed depressed the last few days. “He had a problem,” he said. “He told me he had a family problem, and the last two days he worked, he was awful hard to get along with.”

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