Mark Essex 1972�1973 Sniper Rampage
Early Life and Motive
Mark James Robert Essex was born August 12, 1949, in Emporia, Kansas. He served in the U.S. Navy as a dental technician but experienced racial harassment while enlisted. He received a general discharge in February 1971 for �character and behavior disorders.� His anti-white and anti-police views deepened, motivated in part by the November 1972 shooting of two Black students in Baton Rouge by police.
Shootings � December 31, 1972
On New Year�s Eve, December 31, 1972, Essex parked near New Orleans Police Department headquarters on Perdido Street. He ambushed police during shift change using a Ruger .44 Magnum carbine and a Colt .38 revolver:
- Cadet Alfred Harrell (19) � killed.
- Lieutenant Horace Perez � wounded (ankle injury).
Essex then fled, triggering further violence that led to the death of Officer Edwin Hosli Sr. (shot later after he entered a warehouse Essex broke into). Hosli succumbed on March 5, 1973.
Shootings � January 7, 1973
On January 7, 1973, Essex initiated a second spree in New Orleans that culminated in a rooftop standoff at the Howard Johnson�s Hotel downtown. He fatally shot or wounded numerous individuals.
- Joseph Perniciaro (grocery store owner) � wounded (shot in shoulder).
- Dr. Robert Steagall (28, hotel guest) � killed (shot in chest).
- Elizabeth Steagall (25, wife, hotel guest) � killed (shot in head).
- Frank Schneider (62, assistant manager) � killed.
- Walter Sherwood Collins (56, general manager) � killed.
- Officer Phillip Coleman (26) � killed.
- Officer Paul Arlynn Persigo (33) � killed.
- Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo (48) � killed.
- Robert Beamish (43, hotel guest) � wounded (shot in abdomen; survived).
- Patrolman Charles Arnold (27) � wounded (face).
- Officer Lawrence Arthur (31) � wounded (side).
- New Orleans firefighter Joseph Anderson � wounded (arm).
- Patrolman Michael Burl (24) � suffered smoke inhalation and other injuries.
- Patrolman Robert Childress (33) � smoke inhalation.
- Deputy Sheriff David Munch (Jefferson Parish, 33) � wounded (leg and neck).
- Sergeant Emanuel Palmisano (43) � wounded (arm and back).
- Officer Kenneth Solis (26) � wounded (shoulder and back).
- Firefighter Timothy Ursin (29) � wounded (shoulder and chest).
Essex�s rampage ended when law enforcement, aided by a Marine Corps helicopter, killed him on the hotel rooftop after a prolonged exchange of gunfire.
...Read More
Account
