Luke Woodham
Luke Woodham (born February 5, 1981) is a convicted American murderer, and a former resident of Pearl, Mississippi who in 1997 killed 3 people, including his own mother, and wounded 7. He is serving life in prison.
Murder of Mother
On the 1st of October 1997 Luke Woodham, then 16, brutally beat and stabbed his mother, Mary Woodham to death. When put on trial in court, he claimed to have not remembered killing his mother.
October 1: Shooting at Pearl High School
Woodham drove his mother's car to his high school. Wearing a blue denim jacket, he made no attempt to hide his rifle. When he entered the school, he walked toward Lydia Dew and shot her thinking her to be his former girlfriend Christina Menefee, whom he also shot. Both girls died. He went on to wound 7 others before Joel Myrick, the assistant principal, retrieved a .45 pistol from the glove compartment of his truck and subdued Woodham while he was trying to drive off campus. When Myrick asked Woodham of his motive, he replied "Life has wronged me, sir". Woodham had been planning to drive to the Pearl Middle School to continue his murderous rampage, only Myrick's intervention prevented this from happening.
Minutes before he started the shooting, he gave the following message to a friend:
"I am not insane, I am angry. I killed because people like me are mistreated every day. I did this to show society, push us and we will push back. ... All throughout my life, I was ridiculed, always beaten, always hated. Can you, society, truly blame me for what I do? Yes, you will. ... It was not a cry for attention, it was not a cry for help. It was a scream in sheer agony saying that if you can't pry your eyes open, if I can't do it through pacifism, if I can't show you through the displaying of intelligence, then I will do it with a bullet."[1]
Gun Control
Myrick, the assistant principal, was a former Army Officer and had a valid Concealed Pistol License, authorizing him to carry a handgun; however, due to the law, Myrick was not allowed to carry his pistol while on school property. When Woodham began shooting in the school, Myrick ran over 1/4 mile to his truck to retrieve his weapon. He then sprinted back to the school, where he confronted Woodham. Gun advocates would do well to remember that all this happened as Woodham was leaving the school.
Charges
Woodham confessed to shooting his classmates, but as before mentioned, he claimed to not remember killing his mother. He pleaded insanity, but the jury rejected the insanity defense, and instead found him guilty.
A separate jury in Philadelphia, Mississippi, convicted Woodham of murdering his mother, 50-year-old Mary Woodham, who was beaten and stabbed. He was sentenced to life in prison for that killing. Defense attorneys argued in both trials that Woodham was legally insane at the time of the slayings.
References
- ^ Virginia Tech: Is the Scene of the Crime the Cause of the Crime?, 20-04-2007. Ames, Mark. AlterNet.