Violence Policy Center

VPC

IndexOnline NewsPress ReleasesFact SheetsPublicationsLinksHomeAbout VPC
Looking for something?

Where'd They Get Their Guns?

An Analysis of the Firearms Used in High-Profile Shootings, 1963 to 2001

Date: April 3, 1995

Location: Walter Rossler Company, Corpus Christi, Texas

Alleged Shooter: James Daniel Simpson

People Killed: Six (shooter committed suicide)

People Injured: None

Firearm(s): Ruger 9mm pistol and a .32 revolver


Circumstances

James Simpson entered his former workplace, Walter Rossler Co., systematically shooting employees at point-blank range before going out the back door and fatally shooting himself in the head. He had worked as a metallurgist for a year at the company before quitting in September 1994. According to police, the motive for the shooting was Simpson's apparent depression.


How Firearm(s) Acquired

The firearms were purchased legally, however, police would not release any information to the public. Simpson had no criminal record or mental illness history that would have prevented him from buying firearms.

 
  1. T.J. Milling and Lynwood Abram, "Corpus Christi Police Seek Clues to Rampage," The Houston Chronicle, 5 April 1995, sec. A, p. 1.
  2. Kelley Shannon, "Gunman Kills Five, Then Himself, at Refinery Inspection Company," Associated Press, 4 April 1995.


Back to Table of Contents

 

 

 

 All contents � 2001 Violence Policy Center

 


The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.