All but one of the dead were the women and children who made up appellant's extended family the other two victims were strangers (one survived) who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the space of about one hour, appellant shot fourteen people with a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, killing thirteen and wounding one.
#COLT AR 15 POST BAN SERIAL NUMBERS MANUAL#
He had purchased equipment and materials of the kind advertised and promoted in these magazines, including a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the civilian equivalent of the M-16 and a manual offering instruction on the crafting of silencers in home workshops.
In his home was a collection of Soldier of Fortune, Commando and Gung Ho!, three magazines devoted to the imagery of warfare and glamorous portrayals of military and paramilitary weapons. Unbeknownst to those who evaluated him, Banks had long been fascinated by weapons and survivalist themes.
In the less migratory years of American history, the houses where such things occurred sometimes came to be regarded as haunted-if they were not burned to the ground, as was George Banks' house. Banks had had children by four women and lived with three of them and their children on a rotating basis, making it possible for him to kill enough family members to set such a record. Indeed, by this definition the only mass murder in American history in which most of the victims were family members was the killing of 13 people in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, by former prison guard George Banks.