1998 Parker Middle School dance shooting

1998 mass shooting in Edinboro, Pennsylvania December 2025 January 2025 1998 James Parker Middle School dance shooting Edinboro, Pennsylvania, U.S. April 24, 1998 School shooting, mass shooting 1 3 Andrew Jerome Wurst .25-caliber Raven MP-25 The James Parker Middle School dance shooting occurred on April 24, 1998, at a banquet facility in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, United States. Andrew Jerome Wurst, 14, fatally shot 48-year-old John Gillette and wounded another teacher and two studentsMoore Petrie Braga McLaughlin 2003 80 at Nick's Place, a nearby banquet hallMoore Petrie Braga McLaughlin 2003 70 during an 8th-grade dinner dance.Violence Goes to School - Chronology http://www.sino.trellisinteractive.com/nfa/chronology.html May 11, 2014 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070928211918/http://www.sino.trellisinteractive.com/nfa/chronology.html September 28, 2007 Prior to the shooting, Andrew Wurst was described as an average student and somewhat of a loner. One student noticed that he had become curt and unfriendly prior to the shooting, and had told others that he wanted to "kill people and commit suicide". He was later sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990910teacher1.asp https://web.archive.org/web/20120606015357/http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990910teacher1.asp dead June 6, 2012 Hays Kristen September 10, 1999 Edinboro teen killer sentenced Pittsburgh Post-Gazette February 17, 2012 He had no diagnosis of mental illness prior to the shooting. Shooting Wurst (born February 3, 1984)Inmate/Department Supervised Individual Locator https://inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov/#/ 2025-06-29 inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov showed up late to the dance with his father's .25-caliber pistol in a holster belt under his jacket. He had previously left a suicide note under his pillow, and stated to investigators that he planned to go to the dance and kill only himself.Moore Petrie Braga McLaughlin 2003 76 The shooting began on an outdoor patio, about 20 minutes before the dance was scheduled to end, around 21:40. He shot John Gillette once in the face after he asked Wurst to come inside, and then shot him once in the spine.Cogan Marin 2012-07-20 Recollections From Another American Shooting https://www.gq.com/story/enough-grief-to-swallow-you-whole-recollections-from-another-american-shooting https://archive.today/20250629201908/https://www.gq.com/story/enough-grief-to-swallow-you-whole-recollections-from-another-american-shooting June 29, 2025 2025-06-29 GQ en-US Before running out of ammunition, Wurst proceeded to enter Nick's Place, where the dance had been held, and subsequently fired and wounded teacher Edrye Boraten and two students, Jacob Tury and Robert Zemcheck. The shooting ended when the owner of Nick's Place, James Strand, intervened and confronted Wurst with his shotgun, ordering him to drop his weapon and later holding him at bay for 11 minutes. Strand later got Wurst on the ground, searched him for weapons, and found a dinner fork in his sock.Moore Petrie Braga McLaughlin 2003 72–73 Mental condition Wurst was psychotic. At some points, he seems to have thought that everyone was a zombie, already dead. At other times, he said that he was the only real person in the world, with "unreal" people activated only in his presence. He also claimed he was an alien from another planet, brought to earth as an infant. At school, he sometimes referred to himself as "your god, Satan." He had a number of developmental difficulties, reportedly being a bed-wetter as late as age nine. Even at age fourteen he feared monsters in his closet. At school, he wrote stories and made video accounts of fictional murders and suicide.Langman Peter Why Kids Kill January 6, 2009 St. Martin's Press 141 First His attack was planned; he attempted to recruit another student to help with the massacre. He mentioned his scheme to other students days before the shooting. He took the gun, stuck it in his waistband, and left a suicide note as he left home. At the party, he showed the gun to his classmates, none of whom reported it to an adult. Trial Wurst's attorneys had considered an insanity defense, but recommended that he pled guilty because it would be hard to convince the jury of an insanity defense. Wurst was charged with attempted murder, third-degree murder, and first-degree murder, and pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to a lesser charge of third-degree murder along with attempted murder to avoid going to trial, and in an attempt to avoid life imprisonment. He is currently 42 and serving a 30 to 60-year sentence in the State Correctional Institution – Forest.https://inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov/#/Result Inmate/Parolee Locator He will be eligible for parole in 2029, when he will be 45 years old. See also 1990s List of school shootings in the United States by death toll List of school shootings in the United States (before 2000) References Sources http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10370 Moore Mark H. Petrie Carol V. Braga Anthony A. McLaughlin Brenda L. Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence The National Academies Press 2003 10.17226/10370 978-0-309-08412-3 41.9007 -80.1280 title region:US-PA_type:landmark Category:1990s crimes in Pennsylvania Category:1998 in Pennsylvania Category:1998 mass shootings in the United States Category:1998 murders in the United States Category:April 1998 crimes in the United States Category:School shootings in Pennsylvania Category:Erie County, Pennsylvania Category:Mass shootings in Pennsylvania Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1998 Category:Middle school shootings in the United States Category:Murder in Pennsylvania Category:School dances Category:School killings in the United States Category:School shootings committed by pupils Category:Mass shootings in schools