The Standard Gravure shooting occurred on September 14, 1989 when 47-year old Joseph T. Wesbecker, a pressman on disability for mental illness entered Standard Gravure, his former workplace, and killed eight people and injured twelve before committing suicide after a history of suicidal ideation. The murders and subsequent lawsuit against Eli Lilly & Co is covered in the book The Power to Harm: Mind, Murder, and Drugs on Trial (Allen Lane and Penguin 1996) by investigative journalist John Cornwell.

The shooting

On September 14, 1989, Wesbecker, who was nicknamed "Rocky" by his colleagues, parked his car in front of the main entrance of Standard Gravure and entered the plant at 8:30 a.m. carrying a Chinese-made semiautomatic AK-47 derivative, a SIG Sauer 9mm pistol and a duffel bag containing two MAC-11s, a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, a bayonet and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

He took the elevator to the executive reception area on the third floor and, as soon as the doors opened, began firing at receptionists Sharon Needy, killing her, and Angela Bowman, leaving her paralyzed by a shot in the back. Searching for Michael Shea, president of Standard Gravure, and other supervisors and bosses of the plant, Wesbecker calmly walked through the hallways, deliberately shooting at people. He killed James Husband and injured Forrest Conrad, Paula Warman and John Stein, a maintenance supervisor, who was shot in the head and abdomen, before heading down the stairs to the pressroom, where he killed Paul Sallee. Then wounded two electricians from Marine Electric that were working on a broken machine, Stanley Hatfield and David Sadenfaden and left the duffel bag under a stairwell.

Wesbecker walked down to the basement, where he encountered pressman John Tingle, who, alerted by the loud noises, went to see what's going on. Tingle greeted his colleague, asking him what's happening. Wesbecker replied: "Hi John...I told them I'd be back. Get away from me." After Tingle had gone out of the way Wesbecker continued his path through the basement, shooting Richard Barger in the back, killing him. According to witnesses Wesbecker approached Barger's body and apologized, apparently he killed him accidentally, as he didn't see whom he was shooting at.

Back on the press floor he shot at anyone in his way, killing James Wible and Lloyd White and finally entered the break room where he emptied his magazine hitting all seven workers present and killed William Ganote with a shot to the head. Wesbecker then reloaded and resumed firing, fatally wounding Kenneth Fentress.

When Wesbecker stepped out to the pressroom he pulled his SIG Sauer, put it under his chin and shot himself, ending his shooting spree that had lasted for about half an hour, in which he fired about forty rounds of ammunition, and left eight people dead and twelve wounded. Additionally one person suffered a heart attack.

When police searched Wesbecker's house they recovered a shotgun, a Colt 9-millimeter revolver, a .32 revolver and a starter's pistol, and found Wesbecker's will, as well as a copy of Time Magazine on the kitchen table, featuring an article about Patrick Purdy who had killed five children and injured thirty others with a Type 56 assault rifle, the same weapon as used by Wesbecker, at a school in Stockton, California earlier the same year.

Victims

• Richard O. Barger, 54

• Kenneth Fentress, 45

• William Ganote, 46

• James G. Husband, 47

• Sharon L. L. Needy, 49

• Paul Sallee, 59

• Lloyd White, 42

• James F. Wible Sr., 56

Background

Standard Gravure

Standard Gravure was a major Louisville, Kentucky printing company founded in 1922. Reduced revenues led to an employee wage freeze in 1982, and in 1986 the company was sold. Standard Gravure's customers were retailers, many of which were in the process of going out of business, and at the same time, paper shortages were occurring in the marketplace. It was a time of cutbacks, stress and difficulty.

The shooter

Joseph Thomas Wesbecker, whose father, a construction worker, died in a fall, when he was a mere 13 months old, was born on April 27, 1942. After his father's death he was raised as an only child by his mother Martha, herself only 16-years old at that time, and her family, though he was often passed from place to place during his early childhood, and at one time deposited in an orphanage for almost a year. His grandfather, to whom he felt closely attached, died when he was four.

As Wesbecker was a rather poor student he dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, but he later managed to earn his G.E.D.. In 1960 he started to work as a pressman at a printing plant and married one year later. With his wife he had two sons, James and Joseph. In 1971, finally, he moved to Standard Gravure, where he soon earned a reputation as a determined, hard-working, loyal and reliable worker.

The year 1978 marked the beginning of the downward slope of Wesbecker's life. His marriage ended in divorce and a bitter battle over custody and support for his two sons ensued. It was also the year he admitted himself for the first time to a hospital to seek psychiatric treatment.

In 1983 Wesbecker married again, though it was rather short-lived and divorced one year later. As a consequence he became increasingly reclusive and suicidal, separated from most of his family members and lived an overall lonely life, in whose center his work remained.

After the selling of Standard Gravure and the subsequent management change in 1986, Wesbecker was assigned to a mechanical folder. Soon thereafter he complained about stress and overstrainment and asked to be placed back at his old job, but his request was declined, wherefore he grew increasingly hostile against the new management, grew wary of conspiracies aimed to harass him, and began to complain about policy changes at the company. He also complained that exposure to toluene at work caused him memory loss, dizziness and "blackout spells".

The hostility culminated in May 1987, when Wesbecker filed a complaint with the Jefferson County Human Relations Commission, charging that he was harassed and discriminated for his psychological state and deliberately put under stressful conditions. The following examination indeed diagnosed that Wesbecker suffered from depression and manic depression, thus substantiating his claim of discrimination, and he was put on Prozac.

In August 1988, Wesbecker stopped working and was finally put on a long-term disability leave in February 1989, though there was also an agreement to re-employ him as soon as he recovered sufficiently. Between August 1988 and May 1989 Wesbecker bought several weapons, among them the AK-47 and pistol he later used in the shooting. Shortly before the shooting at Standard Gravure, where he showed up the last time on September 13, Wesbecker presumably received a letter from the company, announcing the cancellation of his disability income.

Psychiatric history

Wesbecker had a long history of psychiatric illness and was treated for it in hospitals at least three times between 1978 and 1987. He was diagnosed to suffer from alternating episodes of deep depression and manic depression, was beset, among others, by confusion, anger and anxiety and made several attempts to commit suicide. Hospital records also suggested that Wesbecker posed a threat to himself and others.

According to CBS's 60 Minutes, "In 1984, five years before he took Prozac, Wesbecker's medical records show that he had this conversation with a doctor. Have you ever felt like harming someone else? 'Yes,' Wesbecker said. Who? 'My foreman.' When? 'At work.' The same medical records show Wesbecker had already attempted suicide 12 to 15 times."

In the years prior to the shooting Wesbecker more than once threatened to "kill a bunch of people" or to bomb Standard Gravure and at one point considered to hire an assassin to kill several executives of the company. Apparently he even discussed these things with his wife before their divorce. When he left Standard Gravure in August 1988 he told other workers that he would come back, wipe out the place and get even with the company and shortly before the shooting he told one of his aunts that he was upset about things at work and said they will get paid back, but as he said these things all the time, she didn't take the threat too seriously.

One of the employees at Standard Gravure said after the shooting: "This guy's been talking about this for a year. He's been talking about guns and Soldier of Fortune magazine. He's paranoid, and he thought everyone was after him."

Three days prior to the shooting, on September 11, Wesbecker told his psychiatrist that a foreman had forced Wesbecker to perform oral sex on him in front of his co-workers to get off the folder. In his notes, the psychiatrist wrote "Prozac?"

Aftermath

In August 1989, less than a month before the shooting, Wesbecker had started taking Prozac. The wounded and the families of those killed filed a lawsuit against manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company, claiming that Wesbecker's use of Prozac contributed to his actions. The jury decided 9-3 for Lilly. Not until several years later was it revealed that Lilly had arranged a settlement with the plaintiffs in exchange for setting legal precedent.

Wesbecker is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

Wikipedia.org

Co-worker with assault rifle kills 7, wounds 13 in KY.

The Boston Globe

September 15, 1989

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A man with an assault rifle mowed down co-workers as he went from floor to floor "looking for bosses" at a printing plant yesterday, killing seven persons and wounding 13 before taking his own life.

Police said Joseph T. Wesbecker, 47, had been on permanent disability, was being treated for mental disorders and reportedly had threatened the company. He carried several semiautomatic weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Shootings  bring call for weapons control

Capital Times

September 15, 1989

The police chief of this city added his voice to nationwide calls for a ban on assault weapons after a man using an AK-47 rifle shot 20 former co-workers at a printing plant before killing himself.

"You don't need these kinds of weapons unless you're a police officer or a criminal," Police Chief Richard Dotson said at a news conference where he held up the AK-47 and one of the two MAC-11 semiautomatic machine pistols used in Thursday's rampage.

'He said before he left, he'd get even'

Lexington Herald-Leader

September 15, 1989

LOUISVILLE -- The thing Dee Meredith remembered most about Joseph T. Wesbecker was the way he walked.

"He swaggered like. It was an arrogant walk, just straight ahead with his shoulders back, and he didn't look to the left or the right," Mrs. Meredith said of her neighbor yesterday. "It was queer just to see him walk like that. It was almost as if he'd been taught to walk that way."

Killer denied having mental problems, rifle seller says

The Boston Globe

September 16, 1989

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A printing plant worker disabled by mental illness denied he had mental problems on a questionnaire when he bought the AK-47 rifle he used to slaughter seven former co-workers, the owner of a gun shop said yesterday.

Police said Joseph T. Wesbecker was armed with several semiautomatic weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition Thursday as he went from floor to floor at the Standard Gravure Corp. plant.

Louisville man dies, raising shooting death toll to 9

Lexington Herald-Leader

September 19, 1989

The death toll from Thursday's printing-plant shooting rose to nine when Kenneth Fentress of Louisville died about 5 p.m. yesterday, a spokeswoman at Humana Hospital-University of Louisville said.

Fentress, 45, had been shot in the chest and leg.

Gunman refused to go to hospital 3 days before rampage

Lexington Herald-Leader

October 27, 1989

LOUISVILLE -- A psychiatrist's notes show that Joseph Wesbecker rejected the doctor's suggestion to enter a hospital three days before Wesbecker went on a killing rampage at Standard Gravure Corp. in downtown Louisville.

Dr. Lee A. Coleman's records show that, during a Sept. 11 session, Wesbecker wept and exhibited "tangential thought" and "increased level of agitation and anger."

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept 15 - The printing plant worker who used an assault rifle to kill seven people here Thursday bought the weapon legally, the police said today.

And they said that in responding to a question on a form he had to fill out before he could buy the weapon, he said he had no mental problems. The question read, "Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?" He answered that he had not.

But Louisville officials, friends and close relatives of the 47-year-old Joseph T. Wesbecker, twice divorced and the father of two adult sons, said he had gone to hospitals voluntarily for mental problems at least twice in recent years; he had also attempted suicide three times; he had won a determination from a human rights commission that his employer might have discriminated against him because of his mental problems.

Mr. Wesbecker killed himself after killing the others Thursday in the printing plant where he once worked. The police said that he bought his Chinese-made AK-47, a semiautomatic rifle, at a gun store here in May. The police said he had carried other semiautomatic weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition into the downtown offices of the printing plant, the Standard Gravure Corporation, in a vinyl athletic bag. Those weapons and ammunition were also purchased locally and legally, the police said.

Bought After Bush's Move

The purchases were made two months after President Bush banned the importing of assault rifles. Mr. Bush acted in the light of the killings of five children and wounding of 20 at a school in Stockton, Calif., by a man with a semiautomatic rifle.

It is not a violation of the law to own such a weapon, imported legally before the ban, if the owner has the proper permits.

Jack Tilford, owner of the store where Mr. Wesbecker bought the weapon, said in an interview today" "He was normal in every way. He was clean-cut in the whole nine yards. If he had answered yes to any of the questions, the law says I could not have sold him the gun."

Mr. Tilford said gun shop owners have no way of confirming the validity of information regarding mental status.

'This Is a Killer Bullet'

Police Chief Richard Dotson of Louisville said the rifle had been loaded with copper-cased 7.62-millimeter bullets, standard military issue for Eastern bloc nations. The copper-cased bullet has a harder head and travels farther and faster than sports or police ammunition. "This is a killer bullet," Chief Dotson said.

As this city mourned the dead in an officially declared hour of silence today, additional details emerged about the weapons and Mr. Wesbecker's state of mind and possible motives. In addition to the 7 people he shot dead, 13 others were wounded, and one remained in critical condition late today.

The weapons found at the printing plant were tested today by the police, who determined that the rifleman had not made the simple adjustments to make them fully automatic. Importing fully automatic weapons was banned more than two decades ago. There is an elaborate Federal registration and transfer procedure for any of those weapons that are still in circulation.

The weapons found at the plant included two semiautomatic MAC-11 pistols; a sig-sauer 9-millimeter pistol with which Mr. Wesbecker killed himself, and a snub-nose .38 caliber pistol. The weapons were bought at different times; the .38, perhaps the first of his collection, was purchased in 1974.

The police said Mr. Wesbecker's home yielded other weapons when they searched it Thursday: a shotgun, a Colt 6-millimeter revolver, a .32 revolver and a starter's pistol.

Lieut. Jeff Moody of the Louisville Police said that also among the items confiscated was the Feb. 16 issue of Time magazine, which prominently displayed articles about the Stockton shooting.

Mr. Wesbecker, who was hired by Standard Gravure in 1971, had not worked since August 1988 and was placed on long-term disability leave in February of this year.

Manic Depression, Self-Diagnosed

But a complaint he filed in May 1987 with Louisville's Human Relations Commission suggests that his problems were of longer standing. In that 1987 complaint, he said the company discriminated against him because of his mental disability. He termed his disability manic depression; a subsequent investigation by the commission confirmed the diagnosis and ultimately found reasonable basis for his charge of discrimination.

The company was never officially charged with discrimination, said Gwendolyn Young, executive director of the Human Relations Commission, but a settlement was reached in January, with the commission mediating.

Ms. Young said Mr. Wesbecker's complaint was that he could deal with the stress associated with running a mechanical folder, in the printing of advertising supplements.

Complaints About Timing

In interviews with the police, his co-workers said that he had indeed complained of the precision and timing that the work involved, and wanted to return to his old job, operating the ink-running wheels.

"The settlement process was not unusual," Ms. Young said, "and as far as we know, the company, without admitting discrimination, agreed to return him to his old position when he was well enough to come back to work.

"The rule in discrimination cases involving mental or physical disabilities is that the employer is required to reasonably accommodate the person and condition."

'They Done Him Dirty'

It could not be determined whether Mr. Wesbecker actually took advantage of the settlement. The company president, Michael Shea, declined to comment on the complaint Mr. Wesbecker filed, or on any of the reports of Mr. Wesbecker's mental problems.

But Mildred Higgs, Mr. Wesbecker's aunt, was quoted in the The Courier Journal, Louisville's newspaper, that he still harbored resentments. "They done him dirty," the article quoted her as saying.

Mr. Shea said the company and its 360 employees are in shock. Standard Gravure has closed until Saturday afternoon.

In the end, the man, Joseph T. Wesbecker, 47 years old, fatally shot himself. The police said Mr. Wesbecker was being treated for mental disorders and had been on a permanent disability leave from the plant. He had reportedly threatened the company. When investigators found his body in the Standard Gravure Corporation plant at the end of his 30-minute rampage, he was armed with several semiautomatic guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Five of the people who were wounded were in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds, hospital officials said. One person who was not wounded was being treated for a heart attack.

'Couldn't Find the Bosses'

"He was up there looking for bosses," said John Tingle, an employee at the plant, which is adjacent to The Courier-Journal newspaper. "He couldn't find the bosses and couldn't find the supervisors," Mr. Tingle said. "He was just in too deep to turn back. So he just shot anything that was close to him."

At 8.30 A.M., Mr. Wesbecker entered the building with a duffel bag containing an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle, two MAC-11 semiautomatic pistols, a .38-caliber revolver, a 9-millimeter automatic pistol and a bayonet, said Police Chief Richard Dotson.

The AK-47 is the same type of gun used by a man who killed five school children, wounded 29 others and a teacher in Stockton, Calif., in January.

He took an elevator to third-floor offices, pulled the rifle out of his bag and opened fire, the police and witnesses said. He then worked his way downstairs shooting people along the way. He eventually reached a pressroom in an annex and killed himself with a shot under his chin, Chief Dotson said.

Co-Workers Hide in Restroom

Mr. Tingle had encountered Mr. Wesbecker at the beginning of the rampage and he recalled that Mr. Wesbecker said to him: "I told them I'd be back. Get out of my way, John."

"I said, 'How are you, Rock?' " Mr. Tingle said. "He said, 'Fine, John. Back off and get out of my way.' " Mr. Tingle and other employees nearby fled to a restroom and locked the door.

The police searched every floor of the building for victims. They found two of the bodies while Mayor Jerry Abramson accompanied them. "It looks like a battle zone," the Mayor said. "With the blood and the people involved, there were bodies lying across staircases. It was just frightening."

Mr. Abramson said the searchers "found a fellow sitting in a corner who was just shuddering in fear. He hadn't been shot, but he was in shock."

'Guns and Soldier of Fortune'

A police officer who knew Mr. Wesbecker told Chief Dotson the man had been "argumentative and confrontational for a number of years."

Joe White, a Standard Gravure employee, said: "This guy's been talking about this for a year. He's been talking about guns and Soldier of Fortune magazine. He's paranoid and he thought everyone was after him."

He was said to have made threats against the company, which prints newspaper inserts and Sunday newspaper supplements, but the company's president, Michael Shea, said he did not know of any threats or the nature of Mr. Wesbecker's disability. "I'm at a loss to speculate on anything," Mr. Shea said. "What's going through my mind right now is sympathy and caring for the people who are involved."

A woman who answered the telephone at a house where Mr. Wesbecker's mother was staying said the family did not want to comment. "We're just in shock like everybody else," said the woman, who did not identify herself. "We had to find out over the television. No one called us. I guess he was just a sick person. That's all."