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A.K.A.: "Pop"

Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics: Revenge
Number of victims: 12
Date of murders: 1971 / June 17-18, 1990
Date of birth: 1948
Victims profile: David Pender / Louis Carl Bacon (pimp) and
Doretta Drake (prostitute) / Nine employees and customers of
General Motors
Method of murder: Shooting (.30 caliber M1 rifle and a .38
revolver)
Location: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself on June 18, 1990

James Edward Pough (1948 – 18 June 1990) was an American mass
murderer.

On 18 June 1990, Pough, 42, shot 17 people, killing 10 before
killing himself in a shooting spree in a General Motors
Acceptance Corporation car loan office in Jacksonville, Florida,
after his car, a red 1988 Pontiac, was repossessed.

Before that day, he was believed to have killed two others - a
prostitute and her pimp - and wounded two as well.

Life

James Edward "Pop" Pough (1948 - June 18, 1990), who was living
in a rundown duplex in Jacksonville's Northwest Quadrant, was
known by his neighbors as a quiet and nice man who kept a
regular and fixed schedule, though also as someone who got angry
fairly quickly and engaged in rage-filled conversations,
especially in matters concerning money and his car.

Pough, an unskilled construction worker and day laborer, who was
described by his business agent as one of their best workers and
somebody who was never late, was doing construction maintenance
at a brewery during the last year of his life.

After the death of his mother three years prior to the shootings
Pough was said to have changed for the worse. Stating that he
has nothing left to live for, he argued he will take someone
with him when he leaves this world.

Frequently he had violent outbursts, which were directed against
his wife, Theresa, most of the time, and twice he threatened her
by putting a gun to her head. In January 1990 they separated, as
Mrs. Pough feared for her safety and on March 2, she was granted
an injunction that disallowed James Pough to get in contact with
her for a year. As a consequence he became reclusive and rarely
socialized anymore.

According to former schoolmates Pough had affiliations with
gangs during his time at school. In 1968 Pough was arrested for
dangerously displaying a knife and was fined $75.

In 1971 he was arrested for manslaughter in Duval County after
shooting a man to death, David Pender, outside a bar with a .38-
caliber pistol and was sentenced to five years probation after
pleading guilty to aggravated assault, but the judgment of
guilty was withheld by the court subject to the successful
completion of probation.

Due to Pough's violent behavior in the past, it was also ruled
that he should never be allowed to own a gun, though this was
unknown to police. As a consequence Pough was not considered a
felon and therefore was able to purchase several handguns, among
them the .38-caliber revolver he later used to commit suicide,
which was registered with the police on June 4, 1979. There was
also an outstanding warrant for his arrest in a 1982 employment
compensation fraud case.

In January 1990 Pough's 1988 Pontiac Grand Am was voluntarily
repossessed by GMAC and he received a bill for $6,394 of
outstanding fees in March, which was the last contact between
him and the office.

First attacks

Pough started his killing spree in the night of June 17 at about
12:50 a.m., when he killed a pimp, Louis Carl Bacon, with two
shots in the chest, and prostitute Doretta Drake, with a single
shot to the head from a M1 Carbine, when they were standing on a
corner in the northwest section of Jacksonville, not far from
his home. Police assumed that the reason behind these killings
was a failed sex-for-money deal. About ten minutes after his
first murders he also shot and wounded two youths, 17 and 18
years of age, after asking them for directions.

GMAC massacre

At about 10:45 a.m. Pough parked his car at the General Motors
Acceptance Corporation office located at 7870 Baymeadows Way in
Jacksonville. Leaving a 9mm semi-automatic pistol in the trunk
of his Buick he entered the building through the front door,
armed with his M1 Carbine, a .38-caliber revolver, several
loaded magazines and his pockets packed with ammunition, and,
without saying a word, immediately began shooting with the M1
Carbine, killing customer Julia Burgess at the front counter.

Walking through the open office he then systematically, though
discontinuously moved from desk to desk and shot at the GMAC
workers, often deliberately aiming at people hiding under their
tables.

Drew Woods was the first to be shot at his desk, just to be
followed by Cynthia Perry and Barbara Holland nearby, as well as
42-year-old Phyllis Griggs, who was injured. When the GMAC
employees realized what was going on, many of them escaped
through a back door of the building, while Pough started picking
off those ducking for cover, and shot, one after the other,
Janice David, Sharon Hall, Jewell Belote, Lee Simonton, Denise
Highfill, Ron Echevarria, David Hendrix and Nancy Dill.

Before he put the .38-caliber revolver to his head and committed
suicide, Pough fired 28 rounds from his rifle, hitting 12 of the
85 workers at the office, some of them being shot seven and
eight times. Six of his victims and the gunman himself died at
the scene, while another three died at hospital, the last being
Jewell Belote, who succumbed to his wounds nine days after the
shooting, which had lasted no longer than a few minutes. It was
the worst single day massacre by a lone gunman in Florida
history, surpassing the murder of eight machine shop employees
in Hialeah by Carl Robert Brown on August 20, 1982.

Victims

Louis Carl Bacon, 39, shot on June 17
Doretta Drake, 30, shot on June 17
Jewell Belote, 50
Julia White Burgess, 42
Janice David, 40
Sharon Louise Hall, 45
Denise Sapp Highfill, 36
Barbara Duckwall Holland, 45
Cynthia L. Perry, 30
Lee Simonton, 33
Drew Woods, 38
Wikipedia.org

GMAC massacre

On June 18, 1990, James Edward Pough walked into the General
Motors Acceptance Corporation Office, Jacksonville, Florida and
killed nine employees and customers. He then killed himself.
Four people were injured. The firearms used in the crime were a
Universal .30 caliber M1 rifle and a .38 revolver.

Pough was upset because his 1988 Pontiac Grand Am was
repossessed. He purchased the car for $9,700 in September of
1988. Pough gave the car back to GMAC in January 1990. His anger
had been stoked by repeated letters from GMAC requesting a
payment of $6,394. This was the remaining loan balance after the
car was sold.

Pough was also suspected in the robbery of a convenience store,
a hit-and-run against a pedestrian, shooting two people, and the
murder of two people on June 17, 1990.

The GMAC office was located at 7870 Baymeadows Way. It never
reopened in this location. The GMAC building was renovated and
is now occupied by the Florida Telco Credit Union.

James Edward Pough

In 1971 James Pough was leaving a bar with his girlfriend when a
man started to abuse her. Well Pough couldn't allow his lady to
be disrespected so he killed the abuser. Luckily for him his
lawyer was able to get the charges dropped down to aggravated
assault and Pough only received five years probation for the
killing. At the end of the five years the crime was wiped from
his record, meaning he could again purchase weapons legally.

His life just drifted along until early in 1990, when his wife
decided to leave him. Then later in the same month his pride and
joy, a 1988 Pontiac Grand Am, was repossessed by GMAC. But
despite these happenings Pough seemed to be unaffected, that is
until June 18.

Just after midnight Pough went out into the street and shot a
man and woman dead. About five minutes later he asked two
teenagers for directions, then shot both at close range,
wounding both.

At 9:00 am Pough robbed a convenience-store clerk at gunpoint.
He then made his way to the local GMAC office.

At 10:50 am he walked in and shot a girl at the counter dead. He
then walked around the counter to the main offices and took aim
at anyone who moved. After calmly killing eight, he pulled out a
previously concealed .38 revolver and shot himself in the head,
killing himself instantly.

8 slain in Florida loan office 5 hurt, gunman then kills self

The Arizona Repuiblic

June 19, 1990

A gunman "loaded for war" Monday stalked through an auto-loan
company that had repossessed his car, firing at customers,
shooting under desks at hiding employees and leaving eight dead
before killing himself.

Five other victims were listed in critical but stable condition
after the late-morning shootings at the General Motors
Acceptance Corp. office south of downtown.

'Nice guy' a suspect in double slaying sunday

The Bradenton Herald

June 19, 1990

A gunman who neighbors described as a "nice guy" who kept to
himself also was linked by police to a double slaying the day
before he shot and killed eight people and then himself at an
auto loan company Monday.

Eyewitnesses identified James Edward Pough, 42, as the person
who killed a man and a woman in separate shootings Sunday.
Police also confirmed he used ``the same rifle'' as in the
office massacre.

'He's shooting everybody!' '911' calls detail Florida massacre

The Arizona Republic

June 20, 1990

Police released dramatic ''911'' tapes on Tuesday of terrified
office workers pleading for help as a gunman roamed the building
and shots rang out in the background.

"We're being killed!" whispered a General Motors Acceptance
Corp. employee as James Edward "Pop" Pough methodically made his
way through the auto-loan office. "Send the, send the SWAT team
now!"

Office massacre stirs gun debate

The Bradenton Herald

June 20, 1990

The Jacksonville massacre by a man firing a semiautomatic rifle
comes as voters in crime-plagued Florida consider a proposed
constitutional amendment on handguns and a gubernatorial
candidate pushing for a ban on assault rifles.

James Edward Pough, 42, a day laborer, killed eight people
Monday with his .30-caliber rifle before killing himself with a
revolver at the General Motors Acceptance Corp. office in
Jacksonville, authorities said. Police said Pough killed two
people on the street Sunday.

Killer's relatives report threats

The Miami Herald

June 21, 1990

Relatives of James Pough were given police protection Wednesday
after they reported receiving death threats in reprisal for his
massacre of eight people in a loan office.

Jacksonville death toll rises to 10

The Miami Herald

June 28, 1990

A worker wounded last week when a gunman invaded a loan office
and opened fire died Wednesday, pushing to 10 the death toll in
the General Motors Acceptance Corp. massacre and making it the
worst mass killing in Florida history. Jewell Belote, 50, a
stenographer at GMAC, died from complications Wednesday at
University Medical Center, said Vince Scolaro, a hospital
spokesman. Earlier this week, Belote's condition was downgraded
from serious to critical because of the complications from her
wounds, Scolaro said.

The 10 dead include gunman James Edward Pough, who took his own
life after going on a shooting rampage with a .30-caliber rifle
in the GMAC office June 18. GMAC repossessed Pough's car in
January, then notified him in March that he still owed $6,394,
the difference between the car's resell value and the amount of
the loan. In addition to the nine people killed and four wounded
by Pough at GMAC, he also killed two people and wounded two
others on Jacksonville streets during the weekend preceding the
Monday morning office shooting.

Tuesday, two of the four people hospitalized after the GMAC
shooting were allowed to go home. David Hendrix, 24, was
released from Baptist Medical Center. Ron Echevarria, 49, was
released from University Medical Center. Hendrix, who suffered
two collapsed lungs as a result of the shooting, was flown from
the GMAC office via helicopter to Baptist Medical Center. Dr.
Jack Crump, who performed life- saving surgery on Hendrix, said
his youth and overall good health speeded his recovery. Hendrix
was making a payment on his pickup truck at the GMAC counter
when Pough came in and without a word began firing. Echevarria
is a GMAC employee. GMAC employees Phyllis Griggs, 42, and Nancy
Dill, 31, remained in stable condition Wednesday and continued
to improve at Baptist Medical Center.

Meanwhile, at University Medical Center, Patrice Johnson, 18,
who was wounded Sunday in one of the street shootings blamed on
Pough, was listed in fair condition.

Gunman kills 8, himself

Jacksonville bloodbath

Tuesday, June 19, 1990

JACKSONVILLE -- A man whose car had been repossessed blasted his
way through an auto financing office with a rifle and a pistol
Monday, killing eight people and wounding at least five before
committing suicide.

There were 86 people in the office of the General Motors
Acceptance Corp. in the Baymeadows Office Park. A customer was
the first victim, shot to death at the front counter. Three
employees were shot at their desks. The rest took cover under
theirs -- death bunkers for six of them.

Two nights before, a man and a woman were killed 10 minutes
apart in northwest Jacksonville by a man disgruntled about the
services of a prostitute. That was the same killer, James Edward
Pough, investigators said after the bloody rampage Monday.

Neighbors on West 22nd Street said Pough, 42, was a nice guy who
minded his own business. Pough, pronounced "Pew" and nicknamed
Pop, was described as a day laborer. His last known employer was
a heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and sprinkler system
contractor.

He lived on the second floor of a worn cement block house, with
the ground floor boarded up and the yard mostly bare dirt with a
rusty weight bench standing outdoors. His 1988 Pontiac Grand Am
was repossessed in January. It is not certain if that alone
drove him into so great a rage, Duval County Sheriff James
McMillan said. After surveying the massacre scene at the General
Motors Acceptance Corp. in Baymeadows Office Park, the sheriff
was certain of this:

"It's just a terrible, terrible, senseless thing. It is one of
the worst things I've seen in my 20-some-odd years of police
work."

Pough had a criminal record. He was arrested for manslaughter
for a 1971 shooting death in Duval County but pleaded guilty to
aggravated assault and was sentenced to five years on probation,
according to court records.

GMAC, one of the nation's largest car financing companies,
arranges time payments for customers of GM dealers. Since losing
his Pontiac, Pough had been driving a 1977 Buick. Between
shootings early Sunday, it jumped a curb and hit a pedestrian.
Neighbors said Pough's routine was fixed: Carrying a hard hat,
he left home every day at 6:30 a.m. and was home by 3:30 p.m.
"He was a nice person. He came in his house, minded his own
business," said neighbor Lonnie Webster.

None of the neighbors really knew any more about Pough than who
he was, said Mary Trapp across the street. "Everybody's like
that. We don't visit with nobody." "It looks like he set out to
do some real terrible things even as early as the weekend.
Whether he had it in mind to go out to GMAC at that time, we
don't know," the sheriff said.

At 10:45 a.m. Monday, he parked at the GMAC office and left a
9mm semiautomatic pistol locked in the trunk of his Buick. He
came in the door and shot a customer at the front counter --
Julia White Burgess, 42, of Keystone Heights -- and moved into
the large, open room as employees dived for cover under desks.
"He just started walking through the building and shooting,"
said McMillan.

Drew Woods, 38, shot where he sat at his desk, was the first to
fall there. Behind Woods, Cynthia Perry, 30, was getting up to
leave her desk when she was hit. Next to her, Barbara Duckwall
Holland, 45, was shot as she tried to duck under her own desk.
She screamed. He shot her again and she fell silent, the fourth
to die. Pough was silent too. No one remembered him saying a
word. For a few moments some of the office staff did not know
what was going on, employee Richard Langille said. "At first,
back where we were, from the noise off it, it sounded like a
copy machine or something had blown up."

When someone hollered "Get down!" they realized what was
happening and dived under desks to escape. There they were
trapped.

Pough turned to his right and shot Phyllis Griggs, 42, who was
directly in front of him. She escaped as he turned his attention
past her. "And then we realized the guy was pointing his gun
underneath people's desks and killing them one by one," said
Langille, who guessed he heard 50 shots. "I just saw the bottom
of the carpet and just prayed."

The rifle, poked under their desks, blasted away at Janice
David, 40, and Sharon L. Hall, 45. Both were killed. Jewel
Belote, 50, shot under her desk, was still alive at nightfall.
Lee Simonton, 33, was shot under his desk and died later. A
policeman's wife, Denise Highfill, 36, was killed under her
desk. Ron Echevarria, 49, also shot under a desk, survived.
David Hendrix, 25, the 13th person shot, was still alive Monday
night. So was Nancy Dill, 31.

Fred Bateh, owner of a sandwich shop across the street, said a
GMAC employee ran into his store about 10:45 a.m. and said
"Somebody's shooting people at close range. A lot of them are
dead."

Daniel Mulvaney, an AT&T worker, was outside on a break when he
heard the gunfire. "We saw people running from the building. One
had blood on his leg and another had blood all over his back,"
Mulvaney said.

A woman in the office was on the phone at the time to Nita King,
assistant deputy clerk of Marion County, who overheard the
action at her end of the line in Ocala. "I answered the phone
and didn't get an answer a couple of times," King said. "And she
says, 'Help! Help! Help! We're being robbed. Please help,' About
that time I could hear some gunshots in the background. She was
under her desk."

King yelled for someone to call the police. "I kept her on the
phone until the law agencies did get there," King said. "You
could hear the gunshots. I heard at least 8 or 10, I guess,
people screaming and carrying on. The girl was so upset, she
kept begging for help. It was just terrible."

When police arrived at the one-story office building made of
white stone, they found seven bodies.

Two more people died soon afterward, raising the death count to
nine. The rest, all reported in serious and critical condition,
were at University Medical Center and Baptist and St. Luke's
hospitals.

Police picked up 28 spent .30-caliber rifle cartridges and one
.38-caliber pistol casing -- presumably from the shot Pough
fired into his own head. Most of the shooting was done with
Pough's clip-fed rifle. "There's numerous magazines, plus
numerous rounds in his pockets. He was loaded for war," said
Deputy Mark Bozeman.

Investigators immediately wondered if Pough had anything to do
with the earlier rifle murders committed in Pough's own
neighborhood. Sheriff McMillan said their hunch was confirmed
late in the day when witnesses were shown Pough's picture and
identified him as the rifleman who killed Louis Carl Bacon, 39,
and Doretta Drake, 30, at 12:50 and 1 a.m. Sunday.

The death total matches the worst previous one-day killing in
Florida, a 1982 massacre at a Miami machine shop that left nine
dead and three wounded. The gunman, schoolteacher Carl Brown,
was getting away on a bicycle until a passing motorist caught up
and bumped him from behind, knocking him into a utility pole and
killing him.

James Edward Pough (10)

On the morning of June 18, 1990, James Edward Pough walked in a
GMC car loan office in Jacksonville, Florida and started
shooting. Police said he was distraught over GMC's repossession
of his red 1988 Pontiac. "Pop," as his neighbors called him,
started his rampage the night before by killing a prostitute and
her pimp. The next morning, at the GMC office, he randomly
killed eight and wounded five others. When he saw no one else
left alive he turned the gun on himself.

Here's a first-hand account from a reader of the Archives:

"The morning of June 18, 1990 started out as a normal one for
me. I was unemployed and looking for work. I had a job interview
that morning on the southside of Jacksonville, FL. I got
breakfast and headed towards Baymeadows Road. It was a pleasant
day, so pleasant I actually got lost. After backtracking and
finally asking an Electric Company crew for directions, I drove
toward my destination. I missed the driveway the first time I
passed the building I was to be at. The next building was the
GMAC Office. I turned in and circled through the parking lot. As
I passed through, I looked at my watch. I thought to myself, "Is
there enough time to drop off a resume here?" If I hadn't gotten
lost, there would have been. I had to go to my scheduled
appointment, but thought I would go back afterward. I never
dreamed that I wouldn't have the chance.

As I drove out of the GMAC parking lot an old, faded green
Pontiac 4-door was pulling in. A big black man was driving. As
we passed, he glared at me. It was the kind of look a wild
animal gives just before it attacks. I felt the hair on the back
of my neck stand up. I drove quickly out of the parking lot and
across the street to my appointment. I had a real bad feeling
about the man.

My interview went well and I left the building on my way to the
GMAC office across the street. It was a scene I will never
forget. The place was absolutely crawling with Police, Rescue,
Helicopter Ambulances, you name it. The press wasn't there yet.
I asked a bystander what was going on and was told of the
massacre in the GMAC office. I felt my knees get weak. I sat
down and tried to calm down. I would later find out just how
close I came to being gunned down in cold blood. We were all
detained while the emergency crews worked at the scene. We
watched as stretcher after stretcher was rolled out of the
building. 8 people would die that day.

I watched the news that night and they showed a picture of the
killer and his car. It was the man in the Pontiac, mass
murderer, James Edward Pough. Pough had already killed two
people and went into the GMAC office within minutes after I saw
him. I thank God to this day that I got lost that morning. I
would have been one of the first to be gunned down in the lobby
as Pough went on his rampage. He literally worked his way
through the office methodically killing people. After he got
done shooting the others, he turned a gun on himself and took
his own life. It would be Pough's last violent act. An act of a
madman."

Mayhem.net

http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pough-james-edward.htm
 

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