The First Strike Campaign:
Animal Cruelty/Human Violence

YOUTH VIOLENCE AND ANIMAL CRUELTY

RECENT EXAMPLES:

April 20, 1999 (Littleton, CO)
Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, allegedly brought guns and pipe bombs to their high school and killed twelve fellow students and one teacher before killing themselves. Several students said that Harris, Klebold, and their friends spoke of mutilating animals.

May 21, 1998 (Springfield, OR)
Kip Kinkel, 15, allegedly walked into his high school cafeteria and opened fired on his classmates. Two classmates were killed and twenty-two others injured, four critically. Later that day police found Kinkel’s parents shot to death in their home. Friends and family indicated that Kinkel had a history of animal abuse. Friends say that he often bragged about torturing and killing animals.

April 9, 1998 (West Dallas, TX)
Seven- and 8-year-old brothers and an 11-year-old friend were arrested for kidnapping, beating, and sexually assaulting a 3 year-old girl. A local television station reported that the brothers had been involved in animal cruelty.

March 24, 1998 (Jonesboro, AR)
Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, allegedly shot and killed four students and one teacher during a fire drill at their school. A school friend stated that Golden “said he shoots dogs all the time with a .22.”

September 27, 1997 (Toms River, NJ)
On April 14, 1999, Samuel Manzie, 17, was sentenced to 70 years in prison for the 1997 death of Edward Werner, 11, who went to the Manzie home to sell candy for a school fund-raiser. Manzie stangled the boy with an electrical cord after he ordered the boy to strip and tried to commit an oral sex act on him. It was reported that Manzie had a history of torturing his family’s cats and dog and once set fire to his room.

October 1, 1997 (Pearl, MS)
Luke Woodham, 16, stabbed his mother to death and then went to his high school, where he shot and killed two classmates and injured seven others. Prior to the killings, Woodham wrote in his journal that he and an accomplice beat, burned ,and tortured his dog, Sparkle, to death. He said it was "true beauty." In June 1998, Woodham was found guilty of three murders and seven counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to three life sentences and an additional 20 years for each assault charge.

December 1, 1997 (West Paducah, KY)
Michael Carneal, 14, allegedly shot and killed three classmates at school. According to fellow student, Carneal talked about throwing a cat into a bonfire. In December 1998, Carneal was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years.

November 1996 (Tavares, FL)
Rod Ferrell, 17, "vampire cult leader," and cult members Heather Wendorf, 16; Howard Anderson, 17; Dana Cooper, 20; and Charity Keesee, 17, were arrested in connection with the bludgeoning deaths of Wendorf's parents. Media accounts reported that the group included animal torture and mutilation in their rituals.

August 2, 1993 (Bath, NY)
Eric Smith, 13, was convicted in the beating death of a 4-year-old boy. Four years prior to the murder, a neighbor said Smith choked his cat to death with a garden hose clamp.

June 1991 (Virginia Beach, VA)
Shawn Novak, 16, was convicted of slashing the throats of two young neighborhood boys. Several years prior to the incident, friends reported that Novak would wear a cat's paw on a necklace and would brag about killing animals. They also reported that he showed them dead birds, cat's heads, and other animal bones. Novak was sentenced to life in prison.

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