FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       10-16-91        2200HRS. CDT

MADMAN KILLS TWENTY THREE, WOUNDS 20 MORE

Killeen, TX.  An angry man with a semiautomatic 9mm pistol
crashed his pickup truck into a Killeen, Texas cafeteria and
opened fire on the lunch time crowd.  Witnesses describe the man
as having fired his weapon until it was empty, reloading and
firing many additional shots. The man may have continued to shoot
and kill people for as much as ten to fifteen minutes.  Emergency
medical and law enforcement officials describe a total of twenty-
three (23) people being killed and another twenty (20) wounded.
The gunman reportedly was also found dead at the scene, possibly
from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Killeen Police are investigating the incident, but have released
little information about the motive or cause for the shooting.
Reportedly, the assailant's name was given as George Menard of
Belden, Texas.  Little is known about the man, except that he
made a statement prior to the start of the shooting, which
accused "Bell County of ruining his life".  Bell county is the
Texas county where the incident occured. Reportedly, the man had
been unemployed for as much as six months prior to the incident,
and several local people speculated that the man's financial
situation might have contributed to the fatal outcome.

According to Clark Staten, Executive Director of the Emergency
Response and Research Institute in Chicago,IL, "This appears to
be the deadliest shooting incident of the past twenty-five
years".  "It brings to mind another incident of many years ago
involving a gunman who was firing from a tower at the University
of Texas", the former police officer continued.  "This level of
violence appears to be an unfortunate, but increasingly common
event", Staten continued.  "Incidents like that which occured
today, last year in a McDonald's restaurant, and on a California
schooyard point out the vulnerability of anyplace that people
gather", he added.

"The next biggest problem that will face the citizens of Killeen,
is that of critical incident stress; in a town the size of
Killeen everybody knows somebody who was involved in the shooting
or is even related to a victim", Staten said. "Following a large
scale, tragic event like this, many people will will [sic] eventually
experience what is commonly called `Post-Traumatic Stress Syn-
drome', he added.  "Mental health professionals will need to
begin the process of debriefing those that have lived through
this horrendous afternoon, and much follow-up care may be neces-
sary to help ease the psychologic trauma that will undoubtedly
occur", Staten added.

An initial assessment of the emergency response to the incident
shows that the U.S. Military contributed a great deal to the
rescue effort.  According to an local Emergency Medical Techni-
cian (EMT), a military unit from nearby Ft. Hood sent several
medical evacuation helicopters to the scene and they immediately
transported several critical patients to nearby civilian and
military hospitals.  A number of physicians were also transported
to the scene of the shooting within a few minutes, and a triage/-
treatment area was established in a nearby store.

Local fire, police and emergency medical service workers report
that their normal systems were overwhelmed for a period of time
at the onset of the incident, but that an extraordinary effort on
the part of the rescuers minimized the loss of life to the
highest degree possible.  "Almost any emergency medical service
would have been pushed to it's limits by an incident like this";
Staten, a veteran paramedic, observed.  "Considering the circum-
stances, it would appear that they did a commendable job while in
the most difficult of predictaments", he concluded.

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