The Pittsburgh Press (March 6, 1944)
Army officer runs amok, kills 2 women, policeman
Lieutenant wounds five others in early morning rampage before he is shot
Bulletin
Riverside, California (UP) –
An Army lieutenant ran amok early today at Camp Anza, killed two young women and a policeman, and injured five other persons but spared the lives of a pleading 22-year-old mother and her baby. Of the five reported wounded, only one, Ray Schlegel, Los Angeles aircraft worker, was identified. Schlegel was shot when the Army officer ordered him to pull over to the curb in front of the Arlington police substation while Mrs. Schlegel begged for the life of her eight-month-old baby.
Riverside, California (UP) –
Two young women and a policeman were killed and five others wounded early today by an Army officer who ran amok, shot his way out of camp, and killed a policeman who sought to disarm him.
The officer, identified tentatively as a Lt. Swanson, was shot three times by police.
The dead were:
- Dorothy Douglas, about 19;
- Lourdine Livermore, about 19,
- A. B. Simpson, Riverside policeman.
The Army officer, identified tentatively as a Lt. Swanson, was shot three times by policemen.
The women were shot at Camp Anza shortly after midnight. The Army refused details of the shooting.
Police said Lt. Swanson commandeered an Army car at camp after shooting the women and forced a Negro sergeant to drive him into the nearby suburb of Arlington.
The car sped past the guard without pausing and the sergeant drove it to the police station. Acting apparently on orders from the lieutenant, the sergeant parked on the wrong side of the street, blocking traffic.
The first car to approach was driven by Ray Schlegel, 24, of Los Angeles, who was forced to stop. Schlegel and an unidentified sailor got out to investigate, leaving Schlegel’s wife and infant son in the car.
The Army officer brandished a gun and threatened to kill them. At this point, Policemen C. F. Cole and Simpson came out to investigate.
Schlegel warned:
Look out, this man has a gun.
Simpson and Cole spun around and simultaneously ordered Lt. Swanson to drop his service revolver.
As an answer, the lieutenant opened fire. The first two shots struck Schlegel in the chest, the next two hit Simpson in the abdomen. As Simpson fell, he emptied his gun at the Army officer, hitting him twice, Cole also fired and felled him with one shot.
Simpson died three minutes after reaching the hospital. Schlegel’s condition was reported as “good.”
The Army officer was removed to the Camp Anza hospital, where officials refused to say whether he was dead or alive.