Bio 

Wayne Lo was born on November 14, 1974, in Tainan, Taiwan. His father, Chia-Wei Lo, served as a fighter pilot, and his mother, Lin-Lin Lo, was a music teacher. Lo had a younger brother. His family moved to the United States when he was young. They lived for a time in Maryland, returned to Taiwan, and later settled in Billings, Montana, in 1987. His parents operated a Chinese restaurant in Billings.

Lo showed strong musical ability as a child and teenager. He played violin and later became part of the Billings Symphony Orchestra while still in high school. He also studied at the Aspen Music Festival and was known as a talented young musician.

In Billings, Lo attended Lewis and Clark Junior High School and then Billings Central Catholic High School. He did well academically, played basketball, and was viewed as a promising student and violinist.

In 1991, Lo entered Simon’s Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The school was known for accepting younger students who were ready for college-level work before finishing traditional high school. Lo received a W.E.B. Du Bois minority scholarship.

At Simon’s Rock, Lo struggled socially and personally. He moved away from classical music and became involved with a small group of students who listened to hardcore music. Other students later said he expressed harsh political and social views, but he was not charged with a hate crime.

By late 1992, Lo was 18 years old and a student at Simon’s Rock. Before the shooting, he ordered ammunition and gun parts by mail and later bought a semi-automatic rifle. His known criminal case centers on the December 14, 1992 campus shooting that killed two people and wounded four others.

Murder Story

On December 14, 1992, Wayne Lo was an 18-year-old student at Simon’s Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. That morning, a package addressed to him arrived at the school from a gun-related company in North Carolina. College staff became concerned because of the return address. The package contained a gun stock, ammunition clips, and ammunition. When school officials questioned Lo, he showed them some items and said they were gifts or items meant for use at home in Montana. He also said he did not have a weapon on campus.

Later that day, Lo took a taxi to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He went to a sporting goods store and bought a semi-automatic assault rifle. After returning to campus, he took a final exam. That night, Lo began the shooting around 10:20 p.m. The first person shot was Theresa Beavers, a campus security guard stationed near the main entrance. She was seriously wounded but survived.

Lo then fired at a car driven by Professor Ñacuñán Saez, also listed as Nacunan Saez. Saez was a 37-year-old Spanish professor from Argentina. He was shot in the head and died after his car went off the road. Lo then moved toward the campus library. There, he shot and killed Galen Gibson, an 18-year-old student. Gibson had been in or near the library when the shooting reached that area.

Lo also wounded Thomas McElderry, a 19-year-old student. He then moved toward a dormitory area, where he wounded Joshua Faber and Matthew David. In total, Lo killed two people and wounded four others. The shooting lasted less than 20 minutes. Lo’s rifle eventually jammed. After that, he went to the student union building and called police. He told them he was the shooter, put down the rifle, raised his hands, and surrendered.

Lo was charged with murder and other offenses. During the trial, his defense argued that he lacked criminal responsibility because of mental illness. Defense experts testified that he suffered from schizophrenia, while prosecution experts disputed that conclusion. The jury rejected the insanity defense. On February 3, 1994, Lo was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and other related charges. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus additional prison time.

In 1998, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed his convictions. Wayne Lo remains known for the Simon’s Rock College shooting, one of the earlier widely reported school shootings in the United States.