Biswanath Halder was born around 1940–1941 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. He immigrated to the United States, where he pursued higher education and eventually earned a master's degree from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in 1999. Halder was known to be a difficult individual and had a contentious relationship with the university's computer lab administrator, Shawn Miller. He accused Miller of deleting his website, which was intended to assist fellow Indians in starting businesses. Halder filed a civil lawsuit against Miller, but it was dismissed in 2003. This perceived injustice appeared to fuel his grievances leading up to the shooting.

On May 9, 2003, at approximately 4:00 PM, 62-year-old Biswanath Halder entered the Peter B. Lewis Building of the Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU in Cleveland, Ohio. Dressed in camouflage and wearing a flak vest, he was armed with a semi-automatic rifle. Halder broke into the building by smashing a glass door with a sledgehammer. Once inside, he began an indiscriminate shooting spree, killing 30-year-old graduate student Norman Wallace and wounding two professors. Halder then roamed the building for seven hours, during which nearly 100 people were trapped inside. The building's complex design, with its irregular layout, provided Halder with numerous hiding spots, complicating efforts by law enforcement to apprehend him. Eventually, a SWAT team cornered and arrested Halder in a fifth-floor closet.

Halder was charged with 338 felony counts, including aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, and unlawful possession of a dangerous ordnance. During his trial, which began in late 2005, Halder was convicted on all counts. Although prosecutors sought the death penalty, the jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Halder's subsequent appeals were denied, including a 2008 appeal to reopen his case, which was rejected by the Ohio Court of Appeals.