1965 Highway 101 sniper attack

{{Infobox civilian attack

| title = 1965 Highway 101 sniper attack

| image = File:Highway 101 Sniper Vantage Point April 25 1965.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Three vehicles struck by the sniper's gunfire, pictured upon U.S. Highway 101 following the perpetrator's suicide

| map =

| map_size =

| map_alt =

| map_caption =

| location = Orcutt, California, U.S.

| target = Motorists traveling along U.S. Highway 101

| coordinates = {{Coord|34.832|-120.366|display=inline,title}}

| date = {{Start date and age|1965|04|25}}

| time =

| timezone =

| type = Mass shooting, triple murder, murder-suicide

| fatalities = 4 (including the perpetrator)

| injuries = 10

| perp = Michael Andrew Clark

| weapons = *Scoped Swedish Mauser bolt-action rifle w/ Mannlicher stock (6.5×55mm)

Pistol (not used)

}}

Early on the Sunday morning of April 25, 1965, 16-year-old Michael Andrew Clark opened fire on cars traveling along U.S. Highway 101 just south of Orcutt, California from a nearby hilltop. Three people were killed and ten were wounded before Clark committed suicide upon arrival of police.

Shooting

Late on the night of April 24, 1965, Michael Andrew Clark, who lived in Long Beach, California, left home in his parents' car, without their permission. In the back of the car, he had a Swedish Mauser military rifle equipped with telescopic sight and a pistol he had removed from his father's locked gun safe along with a large quantity of ammunition. Early the next morning, he climbed to the top of a hill overlooking a stretch of Highway 101 near Orcutt. As the sun came up, Clark began shooting at automobiles driving down the highway.Santa Maria Times, April 26, 1965{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 26, 1965|title=Sniper Kills 2}}{{cite book|author=Ovid Demaris|title=America the Violent|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1971|page=344}}

Two men were killed and six more people were wounded as the shooting continued for hours before Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office deputies rushed the hill and Clark committed suicide as they closed in.{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 26, 1965|title=Highway Sniper Dies After Killing Two, Wounding Six}}{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|date=May 7, 1965|title=Michael Andrew Clark, 16, took his own life after killing two passers by and fatally wounding a third with a high-powered rifle on Highway 101 near here April 25, a coroner's jury ruled Thursday.}} A five-year-old boy wounded in the head died a day later, bringing the total to three dead for the rampage.{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 27, 1965|title=Highway Sniper's Bullet Proves Fatal to Boy, 5}}

Reportedly the two men killed in the shooting were attempting to assist others who were trapped in a vehicle which had been hit by the gunfire.{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 28, 1965|title=Part II, p. 1|quote=Both men who were killed by a teen-age sniper on U.S. 101 may have been trying to aid victims in another auto, it was disclosed Tuesday.}}

Victims

Those killed were:{{Cite web |title=The Press-Courier - Google News Archive Search|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MkBKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ByMNAAAAIBAJ&hl=de&pg=5611,3168189 |access-date=2022-08-01 |website=news.google.com}}

Charles Christopher Hogan, 21
Joel W. Kocab, 28
Kevin Dean Reida, 5

Those wounded were:{{Cite web |title=The Free Lance-Star - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W3AQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LosDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4760,2178199&dq= |access-date=2022-08-01 |website=news.google.com}}

Doris Burson, 24, injured by glass fragments
Alice Jones, 31, injured by glass fragments
Marvine Jones, 12, injured by glass fragments
Bill Reida, 42, shot in the neck
Lucille Reida, 44, wife of Bill Reida, injured by glass fragments
Kim Alan Reida, 3, son of Bill and Lucille Reida, graze wound
Norbert Schuerman, 38, policeman, shot in the left arm
Kathleen Smith, 22, injured by glass fragments
Renee Terry, 15, shot in the right forearm
Leona Weber, wrist injury from shrapnel
Joy Ziomek, 39, arm injury from glass fragments

Aftermath

A lawsuit was eventually brought to the courts by victims William, Lucille, and Kim Reida, complaining that parents Forest and Joyce Clark were negligent in two counts: "failure of the Clarks to train, control, and supervise son Michael" and also, "failure of Forest Clark to keep the rifle out of Michael’s hands." The case was decided in favor of the Clarks and generally upheld on appeal, although the appeals court found negligence on the part of father Forest Clark for not adequately securing the weapons.{{cite web|url=http://www.lawlink.com/research/CaseLevel3/49081|title=Reida v. Lund 18 Cal.App.3d 698}}

Cited works and further reading

{{cite book | last1 = Cawthorne | first1 = Nigel | last2 = Tibballs | first2 = Geoff | year = 1993 | title = Killers | publisher = Boxtree | location = London | isbn = 0-7522-0850-0 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/killerscontractk0000cawt/page/195 195-199, 316-322] | url = https://archive.org/details/killerscontractk0000cawt/page/195 }}