The assassination attempt on Louis Philippe I occurred on the 28th of July 1835, in Paris. It was perpetrated by Giuseppe Marco Fieschi. He failed to assassinate the king, however, he killed 18 and injured 22 using the volley gun that he constructed with the help of Pierre Morey.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I consider Fieschi a prototype Paddock. The reason I say that is because he used his volley gun from a high vantage point. Also the volley gun had 25 barrels, Paddock had 21 semi automatic guns, which is doubly interesting when you consider that 4 of the volley gun's barrels burst when fired; but obviously that is just a coincidence.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]What I found interesting about the case were the similarities it shared with modern mass shootings. According to some accounts Fieschi wasn't politically motivated, so maybe the parallels should come as no surprise.
For one, the aftermath was a spectacle. It garnered a great deal of public interest. Fieschi revelled in the fame that it brought him. At the trial he talked much about himself, his thoughts, emotions, and habits, much like a verbal manifesto. A biography was written about him; his life was scrutinised. In the void of a clear motivation one might argue that fame was a motive. Perhaps they should have started campaigning for No Notoriety back then.
And like it was for Whitman and Paddock, Fieschi's brain was studied to determine if there were abnormalities that might explain his behaviour.
Subject: First Mass Shooting 1835 
Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:36 am
