| 1982 Wilkes-Barre shootings | |||||
| Location: | Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||
| Type: | Mass shooting, spree shooting, mass murder, familicide | ||||
| Fatalities: | 13 | ||||
| Injuries: | 1 | ||||
| Perp: | George Emil Banks | ||||
| Weapons: | Colt AR-15 SP1 semi-automatic rifle | ||||
| Verdict: | Guilty on all counts | ||||
| Convictions: | First-degree murder (12 counts)
| ||||
The 1982 Wilkes-Barre shootings was a spree shooting which occurred in the United States on September 25, 1982, carried out by George Emil Banks, a former Camp Hill prison guard. Banks fatally shot 13 people in Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania. The victims included seven children – five being his own – their mothers, some of their relatives, and one bystander.[1]
Banks' attorneys argued for the insanity defense, but, following a trial Banks was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.[2]
On November 29, 1990, the Pennsylvania State Legislature barred further use of the electric chair amid debate that electrocution was cruel and unusual punishment; it approved execution by lethal injection. Banks's case was appealed and, on December 2, 2004, he received a stay of execution following a determination that he was incompetent for execution. On May 12, 2010, Banks was declared incompetent to be executed, following a competency hearing held the previous month.[3]
The shooting remains the deadliest in the history of Pennsylvania.[4]
On the night of September 24, 1982, Banks drank a large quantity of gin and took prescription drugs at his home on Schoolhouse Lane in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.[5] The next morning on September 25, 1982, he used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to kill eight people in his house, including three women in their 20s (all girlfriends and mothers of his children) and five children, four of them his. Two of the women were sisters. Banks dressed in military fatigues and went outside, where he saw 22-year-old Jimmy Olsen and 24-year-old Ray Hall Jr, leaving a house across the street. He shot them both, reportedly yelling that they "would not tell anyone about this" before firing. He hit both men, fatally wounding Hall; Olsen survived. Banks drove away.
Banks went to Heather Highlands mobile home park, where his former girlfriend Sharon Mazzillo and their son Kissamayu lived, of whom he had been trying to gain custody. Banks forced his way in and shot Mazzillo. He then shot and killed his sleeping son. Banks killed Sharon's mother, who was trying to call the police, and Sharon's 7-year-old nephew, who was also in the home. Sharon's brother, whom Banks did not see, hid in the closet. He was the only survivor. He called the police and identified Banks as the shooter.
When police examined the victims at the mobile home park, they connected the incident to Olsen and Hall's shooting, which had been discovered at Schoolhouse Lane. They next found Banks's victims in his house. Police began to search for Banks, who abandoned his car and carjacked another vehicle. After abandoning the stolen vehicle, Banks stopped in an isolated grassy area to rest, and subsequently fell asleep.
After Banks awoke, he visited his mother's house (also in Wilkes-Barre.) He was said to have confessed his crimes to her. She drove him to the house of Jacob Whitt, a friend of Banks, where he sent her away and prepared for a standoff with police.[6]
A standoff between Banks and police began. The police brought his mother to their base to talk with Banks. They tried various tactics to get the murderer to surrender, including having a false news report played over WILK radio saying that the children were alive and needed blood to survive. The police tried other tactics to draw Banks out of the house. Finally, Robert Brunson, a former co-worker of Banks, was able to talk him out after a 4-hour standoff. As of September 30, 1982, Banks was charged with eight counts of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, grand theft auto, armed robbery, and felonious theft. Banks was held without bail.[7]
George Emil Banks (born June 22, 1942) was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1942, to John Mack, who was black, and Mary Yelland, who was white. His parents were not married. According to his attorneys at his later trial, he suffered severely from racism while growing up because of being mixed race.[9]
In 1961 at 19, after being discharged from the Army, Banks and some accomplices robbed a tavern, shooting and injuring the unarmed owner.[9] He was sentenced to six to fifteen years in prison, which was extended when he briefly escaped in 1964; however, he was granted parole in 1969, and his sentence was commuted by then Governor Milton Shapp in 1974.[10]
After his release, he married Doris M. Banks on August 23, 1969. They had two daughters together. The couple divorced in 1976.
As noted by his attorney during his trial, Banks seemed to have been deeply affected by racial issues. After his divorce, he dated white women. By September 1982, he had broken up with girlfriend Sharon Mazillo, who had lived with him at one time, and they were disputing custody of their young son. He was living with three women in his house; they were mothers of four of his children, and one had another daughter living with her.[9]
Despite his criminal record for an armed offense, Banks had started working as a correctional officer at Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, in 1980. In 1982 Banks had told coworkers at the prison that "a race war would soon consume the world" and said he wanted "to prevent the five children he fathered with the four white girlfriends from [experiencing] the torment and agony of racism."[9] He was put on "an extended leave of absence" the first week in September 1982 after a conflict with a supervisor and threatening suicide. The prison ordered Banks to be examined for mental health issues at a Harrisburg-area hospital.[9]
On June 6, 1983, Banks' trial began at the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Banks insisted on testifying. He said that he had only wounded some of the victims and police had killed them. Several scene witnesses, Banks family members, and Olsen testified. Olsen identified Banks as the person who shot him and left him for dead. Closing arguments took place on June 21, 1983. Banks' attorney argued that he was insane, but the jury found Banks guilty of 12 counts of first-degree murder, one count of third-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and one count each of robbery, theft, and endangering the life of another person. On June 22, 1983, the jury recommended the death penalty.[9]
Banks was incarcerated in the maximum-security unit at Huntingdon until November 1985. His appeals reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but it refused to overturn his verdict. He was then sent to the Correctional Institute at Graterford, where he was housed in a contained housing unit.
From 1987 to 2000, Banks' attorneys continued to appeal his case. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his attorneys' argument that he lacked the mental competency to be executed.[11] Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge twice signed a death warrant for Banks; however, both times federal appellate courts have stayed his execution.
In 2001, 2006, and 2008 the court held hearings about the mental state of Banks to determine if he could be executed. He exhibited delusional behavior that caused the court to rule him incompetent for execution. During this period, various appeals were being heard by state and federal courts. In 2010, another hearing was held on his competency; his attorney said his mental state had deteriorated significantly since 1982. A judge ruled that Banks was mentally incompetent for execution or to assist his attorneys in seeking clemency. He would continue to be held in a restricted housing unit at Graterford prison. As of September 2017, he was still on death row in Pennsylvania. He was later transferred to SCI-Phoenix in May 2018.[12]
During appeals of his case, Banks was examined more than once in competency hearings by the court to determine if he was competent for execution. He has been found mentally incompetent on three occasions. In 2006 psychiatrists testified that he was "psychotic, delusional and irrational."[13] In May 2010, a Luzerne County Common Pleas judge held a new hearing and determined that Banks was mentally incompetent for execution or to assist his attorney in a clemency appeal.[3] As of September 2017, he was held in a restricted housing unit at Graterford prison. He was relocated to SCI Phoenix following the 2018 closure of SCI Graterford.[14]