VPC

Where'd They Get Their Guns?

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

Date: May 20, 1988

Location: Hubbard Woods Elementary School, Winnetka, Illinois

Alleged Shooter: Laurie Dann

People Killed: Two (shooter committed suicide)

People Injured: Six

Firearm(s): Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, Smith & Wesson .32 revolver, and a Beretta .22 pistol

Circumstances

Dann went on a rampage when told she was being fired from her baby-sitting job because the family was moving. She set several fires, tried to poison a variety of people with arsenic, and opened fire at the Hubbard Woods Elementary School, killing an eight-year-old boy and wounding four other children. Dann then fled to a nearby home, where she wounded a 20-year-old man as he tried to disarm her, before killing herself.

How Firearm(s) Acquired

Dann's three guns were purchased legally at Marksman Police and Shooter Supply in Glenview, Illinois, on three separate occasions in 1986 and 1987. Illinois law requires a Firearm Owner's ID (FOID) card to purchase guns or ammunition and Dann was apparently a FOID holder.

"Police Follow Shooter's Trail of Poisonings; Woman Left Arsenic-Laced Juice at Homes," The Orange Country Register, 22 May 1988, sec. A, p. 1.
William C. Hidlay, "Woman Shoots Seven, Terrorizes Wealthy Suburb Before Killing Herself," Associated Press, 21 May 1988.
Roger Flaherty, "Shattering the Peace," New York Times, 11 August 1991, sec. 7, p. 24.

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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.