Howard Barton Unruh

Howard Barton Unruh was born on January 21, 1921, in Camden, New Jersey. Raised during the Great Depression, Unruh came from a working-class family and was known to be a quiet, introverted child with a growing interest in religion and German culture. His father abandoned the family when Howard was still a boy, leaving his mother, Freda, to raise him and his younger brother alone. He was described by neighbors as polite but peculiar, and by high school classmates as a loner who rarely spoke unless spoken to.

After graduating from Camden’s Woodrow Wilson High School in 1939, Unruh worked a series of menial jobs before being drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. He served in the European Theater from 1943 to 1945, including combat duty in the Battle of the Bulge. According to military records, Unruh was a competent soldier and earned several decorations, including a Bronze Star. However, his time in the Army left a deep psychological impact. After returning home, he became increasingly paranoid and withdrawn. He kept detailed notes of minor slights by neighbors and local shopkeepers, meticulously recording every insult, perceived injustice, or grievance in a journal titled “Diary of Daily Events.”

By 1949, Unruh had moved back in with his mother in their East Camden apartment on River Road, where he lived a secluded life. He built a shooting range in his basement, collected firearms and ammunition, and was known to patrol the neighborhood at night. Several attempts at finding a stable career or pursuing further education.

On the morning of September 6, 1949, Howard Unruh left his apartment around 9:20 a.m. armed with a Luger P08 9mm pistol and 33 rounds of ammunition. Over the course of 12 minutes, Unruh walked a four-block route through his Camden neighborhood and murdered 13 people, including men, women, and children, ranging in age from 2 to 68. Many of the victims were people he believed had wronged him, neighbors, shopkeepers, or individuals he had fixated on in his grievance diary. Among the murdered were: James Hutton, 45, a tailor; Rose Cohen, 38; Charles Cohen, 12; Dr. Maurice Cohen, a neighborhood pharmacist;  Frank Engel, a shoe repairman; John Pilarchik, 27, a neighbor; and Thomas Hamilton, 2, the youngest victim.

Unruh's spree was indiscriminate once it began, he also killed a woman delivering milk and a passerby on the street. At one point, he attempted to enter a movie theater but found the doors locked. Several others were injured but survived.

The shooting spree ended when Unruh barricaded himself in his apartment. A standoff with police ensued, during which tear gas was fired into the building. After a brief exchange, Unruh surrendered without resistance around 10:30 a.m.

During interrogation, Unruh was calm, articulate, and admitted to the murders in chilling detail. He expressed no remorse, explaining his actions as retaliation for years of slights and insults. One of his most quoted statements was: “They’ve been making fun of me for years.”

Rather than standing trial, Howard Unruh was found legally insane on September 7, 1949, and committed to the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, where he remained for the rest of his life. For six decades, he was kept under observation and reportedly remained silent and withdrawn throughout his confinement. He granted only a few interviews over the years, including one in the late 1980s, but never expressed regret for the massacre.

Unruh died on October 19, 2009, at the age of 88, from undisclosed causes while still institutionalized. He never faced a criminal trial and was never released from custody.