Draft:1977 New Rochelle shooting

The Neptune complex, where upwards of 300 people are employed, consists of a two-story, tinted-glass office building at the front, and a block-long garage and warehouse at the rear, where dozens of tractor trailer trucks are nosed up in long rows. The Neptune Worldwide Moving Company was created in 1898 and grew rapidly.{{Cite web |date=February 27, 1977 |title=Story of Neptune—Company in Trauma |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/27/archives/story-of-neptune-company-in-trauma.html |access-date=April 8, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}

Cowan dressed up in a clad military field jacket with a t-shirt with the words "white power" underneath, green khaki pants and a military style beret with the death's head insignia embroidered on the front edge before he went to the moving company. He arrived with at 7:45{{nbsp}}a.m. and took several fully loaded weapons and ammunition, including over 200 rounds of 7.62 mm rifle cartridges in bandoliers, out of the trunk of his car. He then walked into the ground-floor vestibule of the office section with his weapons not concealed looking for his Jewish supervisor Norman Bing who previously had him suspended from work. Cowan entered the vestibule and fatally shot three black people and an immigrant from India and injured two others while walking through the vestibule, lobby and the cafeteria before walking upstairs to open fire again after noticing people fleeing. Bing noticed Cowan had entered the building armed and ran out his office to hide from him. The first officer arrived at the scene within ten minutes of the first shot being fired but was killed by Cowan upon arrival. Cowan also shot three other officers that arrived out of a second-floor window. Officers could not see him due to the tinted windows.

By noon, Cowan was surrounded by 300 officers and four police helicopters. He reportedly called the New Rochelle police headquarters and asked for a potato salad. He told dispatch that "I'm not going to hurt anyone at this point. I get very mean when I'm hungry". He apologized for the shooting and hung up. He killed himself an hour later during the siege after making the phone call. Police, unsure whether he had any hostages, waited until dusk until entering the building and later at night to remove the shooters body due to the possibility of him having hand grenades. The police later confirmed he had no hostages or hand grenades. They found 14 employees still hiding from the gunman. 20–25 employees were hiding inside of the building, including one that was hiding all day.{{Cite web |date=February 15, 1977 |title=Neptune murderer, Frederick Cowan, kills fives then himself in 1977 |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2017/02/15/neptune-murderer-frederick-cowan-kills-fives-then-himself-in-1977/ |access-date=April 8, 2025 |work=New York Daily News |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=On Valentine's Day, 1977, Frederick Cowan walked into his workplace, the Neptune Worldwide Moving Company and shot 10 people. Killing 5 coworkers and a police officer. Shot himself during standoff. Motive was anger at work for suspension, neo nazi beliefs and hatred of police. |date=April 7, 2025 |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/masskillers/comments/1jtvh9h/on_valentines_day_1977_frederick_cowan_walked/ |access-date=April 8, 2025 |publisher=Reddit with a link to Murderpedia |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=September 8, 1977 |title=Officer Contradicts Woman's Testimony In Hearing on Cowan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/08/archives/officer-contradicts-womans-testimony-in-hearing-on-cowan.html |access-date=April 8, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}

The perpetrator was identified as 34-year-old Frederick William Cowan. He fired over 107 shots during the shooting. Cowan worked for the Neptune Worldwide Moving Company for 10 years. Cowan was suspended from work after he was allegedly being rude to customers and had carried out the shooting in revenge for his suspension targeting his Jewish supervisor Norman Bing who had him suspended from work. Cowan was a United States Army veteran and bodybuilder and was featured in two magazines. Cowan hated black people and admired Nazi's.{{Cite web |date=February 15, 1977 |title=Cowan Was 'Nice Man' to Some in New Rochelle, But to Others 'Real Prejudiced' Backer of Nazis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/15/archives/cowan-was-nice-man-to-some-in-new-rochelle-but-to-others-real.html |access-date=April 8, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en}} He collected Nazi paraphernalia at home and idolized German dictator Adolf Hitler and the Schutzstaffel, saying he wanted to be like Hitler and putting up Nazi flags, weapons and uniforms in his room and getting tattoos of knives, skulls, a swastika and a iron cross. He once kicked a puppy to death because of it's fur being black and he also smashed a TV in a bar because he found out the woman he was talking to was Jewish. He also threatened a neighbour with a rifle for dating a black person. During a search warrant at Cowan's house, police found eleven cans of gunpowder, shotgun shells, primers, three muskets, one rifle, shell casings, equipment to make bullets, thousands of rounds of ammunition, a machete, at least twenty knives, eight Nazi bayonets, World War 2 military helmets, five posters of Adolf Hitler, Nazi books, Nazi flags and Schutzstaffel items.

Four decades after the shooting in February 2018, the city of New Rochelle proposed to name a street "Police Officer Allen B. McLeod Way" in honour of officer Allen B. McLeod who was killed in the shooting.{{Cite web |date=February 22, 2018 |title=New Rochelle wants to honor officer killed in 1977 Valentine's Day massacre |url=https://www.lohud.com/story/news/2018/02/22/officer-honored-new-rochelle/348180002/ |access-date=April 8, 2025 |publisher=The Journal News |language=en}} The street was named in May.{{Cite web |title=[ARCHIVED] Nardozzi Place Named for P.O. Allen B. McLeod |url=https://www.newrochelleny.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1502&ARC=2393 |access-date=April 8, 2025 |publisher=City of New Rochelle, NY |language=en}}

About 3,500 policemen representing at least 62 police departments gathered at the church officer Allen B. McLeod's funeral was at, officials estimated, to pay their last respects.{{Cite web |date=February 18, 1977 |title=Policeman killed by cultist buried |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/18/archives/policeman-killed-by-cultist-buried-rites-for-officer-allen-mcleod.html |access-date=April 8, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}

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{{Mass shootings in the United States in the 1980s and before}}

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