Cleveland Elementary School shooting - Stockton, CA
Posted by: 
saopaulo1
N 37° 58.962 W 121° 18.095
10S E 649156 N 4205256
The site of a shooting in the late 1980s.
Waymark Code: WMHGF2
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 07/08/2013
Views: 2
"The Cleveland School massacre (also known as the Stockton schoolyard shooting) occurred on January 17, 1989, at Cleveland Elementary School at 20 East Fulton Street in Stockton, California, United States. The gunman, Patrick Purdy, who had a long criminal history, shot and killed five schoolchildren, and wounded 29 other schoolchildren and one teacher, before committing suicide. His victims were predominantly Southeast Asian refugees.
On the morning of January 17, 1989, an anonymous person phoned the Stockton Police Department regarding a death threat against Cleveland Elementary School. At noon that day, Patrick Purdy, a disturbed drifter and former Stockton resident, began his attack by setting his fireworks-laden Chevrolet Van on fire with a Molotov Cocktail after parking it behind the school, later causing the van to explode. He then moved to the school playground and began firing with his Type 56 Assault Rifle from behind a portable building. Purdy fired 106 rounds in three minutes killing five children and wounding thirty others including one teacher.
All of the fatally shot victims and many of the wounded were Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants. Purdy then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Purdy had carved the words "freedom", "victory", "Earthman", and "Hezbollah" on his rifle, and his flak jacket read "PLO", "Libya", and "death to the Great Satin" [sic]." (
visit link)