Howard Unruh

"I'd have killed a thousand if I'd had bullets enough."

For those who don't know about Howard Unruh here is a brief rundown of events leading up to his infamous 12 minute stroll through his home town.

1921 BORN in Camden, N.J.

Normal childhood, good student, the usual really.

Then joined the army, fell in love with his gun, his fellow soldiers even said that he preferred to clean his gun or read the bible to women.

Unruh kept a diary during the war in which he wrote down details of each confirmed kill, and the bodies appearance after he'd shot them.

Eventually the war finished and Unruh went home a hero. Once home Unruh went on his first and only ever date. Unsurprisingly he met her at bible class and the relationship didn't last long at all. After this Unruh became known as the neighbourhood recluse and spent most of his time either alone in his room or in the basement shooting targets. He practiced shooting every day.

Eventually Unruh became paranoid about his neighbours and started to keep a diary detailing every single thing that he thought was said about him. Next to each of those complained about was the word "retal.", short for retaliate.

Then on September 9th 1949 Unruh totally lost it. He arrived home at 3 am. and found that someone had stolen a massive gate he and his father had constructed to keep the outside world away. For Unruh this was the last time that he would be mocked by the town. At 9.20 a.m. he left the house and began strolling around the town. Within 12 minutes 13 people were dead, including children. He then walked back home where he was eventually arrested.

Unruh was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has since lived in the Trenton State Hospital for the insane.

I'm not sure if he has since passed away.

The following is taken from a telephone conversation made with a local newspaper editor while awaiting arrest back at his house.

Editor: "How many have you killed?"
Unruh: "I don't know yet - I haven't counted them, but it looks like a pretty good score."