Stockton 1989 Cleveland Elementary Shooting

A very untalked about and brutal shooting that i'd like to bring up here is the Cleveland Elementary School shooting.

If you are someone who researches the whole spectrum of school shooting Events you should know at least some what about this event.

On January 17th of 1989, Patrick Purdy a Drug user and alcoholic drifter entered his old school yard and opened fire on children/teachers killing 5 and wounding 32. On that morning Purdy filled his van with fireworks and then threw a molotov at it causing to explode which he used as a distraction, he then ran into the school yard and took position behind a portable building Armed with a semi automatic AK47 and taurus 9mm handgun aswell as wearing a flak jacket and camouflage fatigues, he then began to rapidly open fire at children and teachers in the playground shooting off 106 rounds and killing himself in under 3 minutes (note how fast that is, it is the fastest large scale shooting ive seen).

His motive is unknown but he left some very odd and cryptic clues behind including:

Flak Jacket inscribed with writings "PLO", "Libya" and "death to great satin"

AK47 had writings carved into it including "Hezbollah", "v for victory" and "Earthman" aswell as AK magazines inscribed with words such a "Freedom"

Motel room littered with 100s of stood up well placed little green army man toys.

Multiple writings referring to "V for victory" (wartime slogan)

Why i think he did it:

I believe patrick purdy was pushed darker into his mental problems and retardation throughout his life as a result of Unemployment, drug abuse and alcohol, There are many reports saying he attacked the school due to hate of south east Asians and the Cambodian/Vietnamese refugee students who were there but i honestly disbelieve this and i tell you why.

Patrick was said to have read a book about Aryan Nations and also once complained about the large amount of Oriental Asians around but i see this as no indicator that he was any sort of white supremacist attacker as it isn't really anything major and nothing he left behind indicated so.

I believe he was very distressed about his life as he was a drug and alcohol user aswell a drifter, i believe this pushed into delusions that he was some sort of Army man or Vietnam soldier, due to his retardation and "dumbness" he probably thought in the way of a little boy who would of saw Army men and US troops as heroes, cool and a future aspiration to be one but i  believe purdy may of been distraught that he wasn't old enough to enlist in the Vietnam war due to his age at the time and it ending this may of wrecked his dream of being a soldier and may of highly contributed to his sadness, As a result i believe with the knowledge he had about military and warfare at the time he may of brought up all these references relating to the wartime slogans and middle east conflict (hezbollah, terror group), i believe purdy was having delusions that this would be his war and he would be a soldier in the battle against his enemies, the toy army men may of represented that fantasy war or the children that he would be killing. I believe he committed the massacre at that school as he grew up there and wanted to end his life in the place he played and probably endured the happiest times of his life before it went downhill, i believe the fact many South East Asian refugee children were killed were either a coincidence due to him solely attacking the school cause he used to go there or the fact that he believed he was fighting in his fantasy war like Vietnam and that these Vietnamese children were in his eyes the enemies that the US fought in Vietnam which was the war he never would serve in, he probably felt ashamed of how dumb and low he was and felt like he'd kill himself in a way that would portray him as the Army man he wished he was and the delusional thought that he was a war hero fighting for freedom and Victory. Most of his references and clues are a mystery, i believe we'll never really know why he left them and what they meant as this was the work of a depressed, drug and alcohol abusing drifter with low intelligence and mental delusions that went untreated.
Note he was wearing a very Military like outfit with a flak jacket and a Military style rifle possibly resembling the toys or the look of a soldier.

Racial hatred may have been a partial factor, but it was one of the many that came from an extremely traumatizing childhood and rough adult life.

STK wrote:

Racial htred may have been a partial factor, but it was one of the many that came from an extremely traumatizing childhood and rough adult life.

Yeah, he was probably traumatised by his childhood. Honestly he probably would've done something similar even if he wasn't racist.

Here is the official report of the shooting:
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it includes a details regarding the shooting itself, the preparation that went into it, Purdy's life history, and autopsy report.
This document:
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includes details on Purdy's weapon, ammunition, the specific injuries of the 5 dead, and information on why there was so few deaths in proportion to the wounded.

"On January 3rd, with ten days to go on his waiting period, witnesses had seen the shooter drinking beers at a tavern in Stockton. The bartender there would tell police that the thin man came in wearing a camo-green army jacket, and (after a few drinks) had gotten to bragging about an AK-47 rifle he owned. One with a huge magazine.

The bartender had tried to burst the shooter’s bubble, explaining that the AK would be no good for hunting deer, but the shooter brushed that off. He had no intention of going deer hunting. And he could spray bullets with that thing fast. Paying his bill, he told the bartender mysteriously, “You’re going to read about me in the papers.”

N/A

Duluth wrote:

TheOne99 wrote:

"On January 3rd, with ten days to go on his waiting period, witnesses had seen the shooter drinking beers at a tavern in Stockton. The bartender there would tell police that the thin man came in wearing a camo-green army jacket, and (after a few drinks) had gotten to bragging about an AK-47 rifle he owned. One with a huge magazine.

The bartender had tried to burst the shooter’s bubble, explaining that the AK would be no good for hunting deer, but the shooter brushed that off. He had no intention of going deer hunting. And he could spray bullets with that thing fast. Paying his bill, he told the bartender mysteriously, “You’re going to read about me in the papers.”

I'm not surprised he was acting so brazenly; he apparently suffered slight mental retardation.

Bragging about the power of your new rifle to someone before telling them "you're going to read about me in the papers" is a great way to get caught.

I mean this was pre-columbine era, so people probably didn't take him seriously

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His Type 56S

Actually, now that I think of it, he might have been the first shooter to write words on his gun, before Brenton Tarrant.