Ross Township Municipal Building shooting

Ross Township Municipal Building shooting
Location	Ross Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Date	August 5, 2013
Attack type	Triple murder, mass shooting
Weapons	.223 Ruger Mini-14, .44 Magnum revolver
Deaths	3
Non-fatal injuries	4 (including the perpetrator)
Perpetrator	Rockne Newell
Motive	Land dispute

The Ross Township Municipal Building shooting occurred just after 7:00 p.m. on August 5, 2013, in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, United States, a small town in Monroe County. A gunman went on a shooting rampage at a public meeting of township supervisors in the municipal building, leaving three people dead and three others injured. The gunman, identified as Rockne Newell, was described as having long feuded with township officials.

While approaching the building on foot, Newel fired a .223 Ruger Mini-14 rifle into the building 28 times, through windows. Then, he went back to his car to retrieve a Six-Shot .44 Magnum Revolver before entering the building and the meeting room. There, he began shooting the handgun at meeting attendees. While the gunman was still shooting, two men struggled with him over the gun. They subdued, disarmed, and held him, preventing further deaths and injuries.

Linda Kozic, Frank Pirano, and Howard Beers were injured; while David Fleetwood, Gerard Kozic, and James "Vinny" LaGuardia were fatally wounded. During the struggle over the gun with Bernard Kozen and Mark Krashe, the gunman was wounded in the leg with his own weapon.^[1][2][3]

Legal proceedings

Newell pleaded guilty to three counts of first degree murder and attempted murder charges on May 29, 2015, and was sentenced to three life terms and was given an additional 61 to 122 years for the attempted murder charges.^[4]

See also

• Kirkwood City Council shooting, a similar earlier case
• Carl Drega, a similar earlier case
• Moscone–Milk assassinations, a similar earlier case
• James E. Davis (councilman), a New York City councilman, who was assassinated in city hall

References