Kip Kinkel
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Kip Kinkel dated May 22, 1998. |
Kipland Philip Kinkel (born
August 30,
1982) is an
American mass murderer who killed his parents and soon afterward perpetrated a
school shooting at a
Springfield,
Oregon secondary school, killing two people and wounding twenty-five. He is currently serving a 111-year prison sentence, ineligible for parole until
2110.
Kinkel had two of his own guns which he acquired illegally without his parents' knowledge: an old sawed-off shotgun and a .22 pistol. He had bought the guns years before the shootings, and he had kept them hidden in his room. His parents never found them.
On
May 20 1998, the day before the shooting, Kinkel was expelled from Thurston High School for being in possession of a handgun. Korey Ewert stole a gun from Scott Keeney, the father of one of his friends, and arranged to sell it to Kinkel the night before. The next day, Kinkel bought it from him for $110, a
Beretta .32 pistol loaded with a 9 round magazine. Kinkel put the handgun in a paper bag and left it in his locker.
Scott Keeney soon discovered he was missing a handgun, and called the police to report it, and gave them a list of names of students he believed might have stolen the
firearm. Kinkel's name was not on the list. When he was later pulled out of study hall and checked for weapons on his person, he reportedly looked one of the officers in the eye and said "Look, I'm gonna be square with you guys; the gun's in my locker". Kinkel was then arrested along with Korey Ewert, expelled, then released from police custody and driven home by his father Bill.
Later that day at about 4:00 p.m., Kinkel got his father's Ruger semi-automatic pistol from his parents' room, loaded it, and proceeded into the kitchen where he shot his dad once in the back of the head as he was drinking coffee, killing him instantly.
He then waited for his mother to come home from work. When she did at about 6:00 p.m., Kinkel told her that he loved her then shot her repeatedly through the head and heart. Kinkel left his mother's body in the garage and dragged his father into the bathroom, where he locked the door. He also put a white sheet over both of the bodies.
His sister Kristen did not know of any of the events until after they had unfolded, as she was in Hawaii at the time for university studies. She would later provide insight into the lives of the Kinkels at home.
On May 21, Kinkel drove his mother's
Ford Explorer to his former high school. He wore a trenchcoat to hide the two pistols, hunting knife, and rifle;
*Hunting Knife, strapped to his leg
*9MM
Glock 19 pistol
*
Ruger .22 Semi-Automatic Rifle(Before mentioned)
*
Ruger .22 pistol
He left his mother's car outside the school and carried a backpack for his ammunition. He entered the hallway and fired two shots, one killing Ben Walker and the other wounding Ryan Atteberry. Kinkel then entered the cafeteria and fired the remaining 48 rounds from the 50-round clip in his rifle. He fired from the hip, walking across the cafeteria, wounding 24 students and killing Mikeal Nicholauson.
When his rifle ran out of ammunition and Kinkel began to reload, wounded student Jake Ryker tackled Kinkel, who attempted to kill Ryker with the
Glock. He only managed to fire one shot before Ryker knocked the gun out of his hand. More students, including Jake's brother Josh, helped restrain Kinkel until the police arrived and arrested him.
Nicholauson died at the scene, and Walker died after being transported to the hospital and kept on life support until both of his parents arrived. The other students, including Jake Ryker (who was in critical condition), were also taken to the hospital with a variety of wounds.
Kinkel was arrested. When brought to the police station, he lunged at Al Warthen, a police officer, with his knife, screaming "Shoot me, kill me!". The officer sprayed Kinkel with
pepper spray, thwarting his attack. Kinkel later said that he wanted to trick the officer into shooting him. When interviewed by Warthen, Kinkel repeated at least seven times that he had "no other choice" but to kill his parents, and at one point exclaimed "God damn it...these voices inside my head"[
1].
At his sentencing hearing the defense presented a number of experts in mental health in an effort to prove that Kinkel was
mentally ill. The only psychologist who had seen Kinkel before the shootings maintained that he was in satisfactory mental health. However, he had only seen the psychologist for a total of 9 sessions, after which his parents felt that he had made satisfactory progress. In any event, on
September 24,
1999, three days before
jury selection was set to begin, Kip pleaded guilty to
murder and
attempted murder, foregoing the possibility of being acquitted by reason of
insanity. In
November,
1999 Kinkel was sentenced to more than 111 years in prison, without the possibility of
parole. Kinkel serves his sentence at
MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, a correctional facility for boys, which is located in
Woodburn, Oregon.
Kinkel Home
*Bill Kinkel, by a single .22 shot to the back of the head
*Faith Kinkel, by 6 .22 rounds to the head and chest
Thurston High School
*Ben Walker, by a single .22 round to the head
*Mikeal Nicholauson, injured by shots to the chest and thigh, and killed by a point blank bullet to the head.
*Kinkel was not taking any psychiatric medications at the time of the shooting. In fact he had previously been taking Prozac, which helped his depression, but stopped it after three months because his depression had improved.
*Jake Ryker has been cited by the
National Rifle Association and conservative media groups as "an example of NRA training put to good use."
*In January 2004 a request for a new trial was filed based on claims that Kip's lawyers failed to properly pursue an
insanity defense. A judge was expected to rule on that appeal within the year, but as of
2006, no motion has been given on the appeal.
*Kip Kinkel is referenced in the
Bizzy Bone song "Social Studies" where Bizzy admonishes him to "put these headphones on and let me murder you like you murdered your mom."
*In Thurston High School, Kinkel fired 51 rounds, 50 being .22 bullets from the rifle, and one being from the
9mm Glock.
*Kinkel was apparently a very big fan of the 1996 film
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, and had the soundtrack on repeat when police entered the house after the shooting.
*According to police, .22 bullets were strewn all over the living room.
*According to Kinkel, he wanted to commit suicide after killing his parents, but couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.
*Kinkel never used the .22 pistol in the shootings.
*Kinkel is referenced in the controversial
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! when the
shooters are about to commit suicide, the main character says something to the effect of "We're not going to surrender - we won't let them do to us what they did to Kip Kinkel," referencing Kinkel's 111-year sentence.
In
2000, PBS aired a documentary called "Frontline: The Killer at Thurston High". The documentary looks into the life of Kinkel, including his depression and fascination with firearms[
2].
*Cincinnati Post[
3]
*[
4]
*[
5]
