Herkimer County shootings

2013 shooting spree in Herkimer County, New York

Herkimer County shootings
Location	Mohawk and Herkimer, New York, United States
Date	March 13, 2013 (2013-03-13) (UTC-04)
Attack type	Spree shooting, mass murder, mass shooting
Weapons	Shotgun^[1]
Deaths	5 (including the perpetrator)^[2]
Injured	2
Perpetrator	Kurt Myers
Motive	Unknown

The Herkimer County shootings were a shooting spree that took place on March 13, 2013, in Herkimer County, New York, United States.

Incident

Kurt Myers, a 64-year-old resident of the village of Mohawk, set fire to his apartment before 9:30am and proceeded to a barber shop in Mohawk. Myers briefly spoke to the barbershop owner John Seymour before opening fire, killing two customers and injuring Seymour and another customer. He proceeded to a car wash in the nearby village of Herkimer, where he killed an employee and a customer.^[3]^[4]

Myers was pursued by police and eventually cornered in an abandoned bar in Herkimer. The standoff lasted overnight. Police entered the building around 8am the next day. Myers shot and killed a police dog named "Ape" and the police returned fire, killing him.^[4]^[5]

Aftermath

At the time of the shooting, Myers had no savings, no job, and was maxed out on all his credit cards. He also had very few items of furniture in his apartment.^[6] Although authorities found evidence of an affair which Myers had with a married woman for two decades which was ultimately ended by the woman, police ultimately concluded that Myers' actions were motivated by his financial problems.^[7]

Myers had no previous criminal record aside from a 1973 arrest for drunken driving. Neighbors said he never had visitors or friends: the few who were familiar described him as an "odd little man" who rarely spoke.^[4]

The shootings occurred a few months after the signing of the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, or NY SAFE Act. The act was discussed in the light of these shootings, and vice versa.^[4]^[8]

The building where the stand-off took place was demolished in 2015 after a series of minor collapses.^[9]

References

^ "Herkimer, New York spree shooter killed in SWAT assault". masslive. March 14, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
^ Larson, Jamie; Santora, Marc (March 13, 2013). "Man Sought in Upstate Shootings Is Killed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
^ Huh, Roomie (March 14, 2013). "Upstate New York Shooting Update: Kurt Myers, suspected gunman, killed by police in shootout". CBS News. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Carpenter, Jake (March 14, 2013). "Four killed in upstate New York shootings, police say". CNN. Archived from the original on December 5, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
^ Rondenelli, Jim (March 12, 2014). "Remembering Ape One Year Later". Big Frog 104. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
^ "Police: Suspect in Herkimer Co. shooting rampage was penniless". Times Telegram. March 18, 2013. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
^ "Newly discovered love notes reveal Kurt Myers' personal life". Observer-Dispatch. March 13, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
^ Fries, Amanda (April 4, 2013). "Despite shootings, Herkimer County remains pro-gun". Times Telegram. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
^ Sorrell-White, Stephanie. "Demolition of former Glory Days building continues". Herkimer Times Telegram. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022.