Robert Benjamin Smith: The Rose-Mar College of Beauty Massacre
Overview
Robert Benjamin Smith, an 18-year-old high-school senior from Mesa, Arizona (born February 10, 1948, in Houston, Missouri), carried out one of Arizona�s deadliest school-related mass murders on November 12, 1966. Smith deliberately entered the Rose-Mar College of Beauty and executed a meticulously planned and horrifying attack, later admitting he was inspired by earlier mass murderers and driven by a desire for notoriety.
Details of the Crime
On the morning of November 12, 1966, Smith arrived at the Rose-Mar College of Beauty in Mesa, Arizona, armed with a .22-caliber single-action revolver, nylon cord, plastic sandwich bags, and hunting knives. With cold calculation, he initiated the attack:
- He fired a warning shot into a mirror, commanding everyone�s attention.
- He forced five women, a three-year-old girl, and an infant into a back room.
- He arranged them to lie down in a circle��like the spokes of a wheel.�
- After the sandwich bags proved too small, he began shooting victims one by one�aiming at their heads.
- One victim, Joyce Sellers (27), who tried to move after being shot, was stabbed in the back by Smith to ensure she was dead.
- Amid gunshots, Eveline Cummings, the operator of the school, entered the building, heard �funny popping noises,� fled, and called police.
- The police arrived shortly thereafter; Smith surrendered calmly, indicated the gun in his paper bag, and later said, �I wanted to get known, just wanted to get myself a name.�
Victims
- Mary Margaret Olsen, 18 (student) � killed.
- Glenda Sue Carter, 18 (student) � killed. (Sometimes �Glenda Carter�)
- Carol Pope Farmer, 19 (student) � killed.
- Joyce Faye Sellers, 27 (customer, mother) � killed (shot and then stabbed).
- Debra LaRae Sellers, 3 (child of Joyce Sellers) � killed.
- Bonita Sue Harris, 18 (student) � injured (shot twice but survived by playing dead).
- Tamera (Tamara) Sellers, 3-month-old infant � injured (shot in the arm) but survived, shielded by her mother�s body.
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