Firehouse.Com News
Wednesday's fatal shooting of two Memphis, Tenn. firefighters by a co-worker was
unusual but not unprecedented in recent memory.
The incident is believed to be the first firefighter-involved shooting
that resulted in the deaths of co-workers since a Jackson, Miss. firefighter
went on a shooting spree in 1996.
On Apr. 24, 1996, four members of the Jackson, Miss.
Fire Department were shot and killed by a disgruntled
firefighter who went on a rampage at the department's
headquarters. Captain Stanley Adams, Captain Don Moree,
District Chief Willie Craft, and District Chief Rick Robbins
were shot to death during a meeting among district chiefs.
The suspect's wife was also killed and two others injured.
The suspected gunman in Wednesday's shooting, Fred Williams, is a
Memphis firefighter who had just returned to work this week after an extended
leave on disability. A woman was also killed in the shooting, but her relationship to
Williams was not immediately confirmed, police said.
The last firefighter killed in a shooting took place on Aug. 6, 1996,
according to the best available information tonight.
Firefighter John William Swan of Wabash, Ind.
responded to a motor vehicle accident involving a car and a motorcycle.
The driver of the car shot the driver of the motorcycle, two bystanders,
and Swan, who arrived on the scene to assist.
Last year, two paramedics in Florida and
South Carolina were shot while on emergency medical responses.
Both survived their wounds.
Ocala, Fla. Firefighter/Paramedic Bobby Simpson, 26,
after an elderly man shot him in the chest after mistaking
him for an intruder on Oct. 28, 1999.
Paramedic Treavor Johnston, a 3-year-veteran of Spartanburg County, South Carolina,
EMS was shot in the face while on a routine emergency call on May 16, 1999.
Earlier in 1999, four Littleton, Colo. emergency workers came under gunfire in the library
of Columbine High School as they triaged students who had been killed on injured.
They were later recognized for their heroics.
Memphis: History