1984 — April 15, Christopher Thomas “Palm Sunday Massacre,” New York, NY — 10

— 10  Doyle, et al.  “Mass Killer Eyes Freedom.” New York Post, February 16, 2009.

— 10  NYT (Rangel). “Defendant in the Killing of 10 is Guilty of Reduced Charge. 7-20-1985.

— 10  OJP, DOJ. Community Crisis Response Team Training Manual: 2nd Ed. (Appendix D).

 

Narrative Information

 

Doyle, Messing and Weiss: “The man convicted of systematically slaughtering two women and eight children in the worst mass killing in New York history before 9/11 could go free… Christopher Thomas…was found guilty of heartlessly pumping bullets into the heads of his terrified victims in the “Palm Sunday Massacre” on April 15, 1984.

 

“Veteran detectives recoiled in horror when they saw the blood-splattered bodies – including that of a pregnant woman – in a railroad flat at 1080 Liberty Ave. in the East New York section of Brooklyn. “One child was eating chocolate pudding sitting on the couch in a suspended state, with the spoon still in her hand, dead,” said former NYPD Detective Beau Dietl.  “There were victims sitting around the living room with fear on their faces after being systematically shot,” he said.

 

“The slayings made front-page news for days. “Showed No Mercy,” read a Post headline.  At his trial, Thomas insisted he was innocent. And he did so again last week in an exclusive interview at the Shawangunk Prison in upstate Wallkill, where he is serving 25 to 50 years on 10 manslaughter counts. “I didn’t do it,” the salt-and-pepper-haired Thomas coolly repeated. “I wasn’t there.”….

 

“In July 1985, a Brooklyn jury found Thomas guilty of manslaughter but not murder. They felt he acted without full responsibility because of drug use.” (Doyle, et al. “Mass Killer Eyes Freedom.”  New York Post, February 16, 2009.)

 

Sources

 

Doyle, John, Philip Messing, and Murray Weiss. “Mass Killer Eyes Freedom.” New York Post, 2-16-2009. At: http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162009/news/regionalnews/mass_killer_eyes_freedom_155429.htm

 

New York Times (Jesus Rangel). “Defendant in the Killing of 10 is Guilty of Reduced Charge. 7-20-1985. Accessed 2-5-2017 at: http://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/20/nyregion/defendant-in-the-killing-of-10-is-guilty-of-reduced-charge.html

 

Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice. Community Crisis Response Team Training Manual: Second Edition (Appendix D: Catastrophes Used as Reference Points in Training Curricula). Washington, DC: OJP, U.S. Department of Justice. Accessed at:  http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/crt/pdftxt/appendd.txt