Howard Unruh died on Monday -- 60 years after the phsycic gunman killed 13 Camden residents and shocked a nation with the modern era's first mass shooting.
"He didn't deserve living that long.""I'm glad," said James Hamilton, 64, of Bellmawr whose 2-year-old brother, Tommy, was among those slain as Unruh targeted perceived enemies and random targets during a "Walk of Death" in a Cramer Hill neighborhood.
Unruh, 88, died at 3:35 p.m. at a Trenton nursing facility after a long illness, said Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Unruh had been held in a state psychiatric hospital since the massacre.
Unruh was a 28-year-old loner and jobless veteran when he launched a Sunday-morning shooting spree near River Road and North 32nd Street on Sept. 6, 1949.
within 10 to 20 minutes, he killed five men, five women and three children.
"I would have killed a thousand, if I'd had bullets enough" Unruh told authorities later.
Unruh also wounded three people and shot at 13 others, before returning to his home. The gunman, who'd been shot in the hip by a neighbor, surrendered to police after a brief exchange of gunfire and a barrage of tear gas.
Unruh later was judged mentally competent but never tried for the slayings.
Unruh, who lived with his mother in an apartment in the 3200 block of River Road, kept a six-page list of grudges against his neighbors. He was angry at alleged slights and tormented by homosexual feelings, authorities said.
The shootings followed a dispute over a backyard gate with three of his victims -- Maurice Cohen, 42; his wife, Rose, 38; and Maurice' mother, Minnie, 67. All three were killed at the family's drugstore near Unruh's home, while the couple's 6-year-old son, Charles, hid in a closet in an upstairs apartment.
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