XPost: alt.private.investigator, alt.sci.sociology, alt.america   
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   From: thanks.democrats@splcenter.org   
      
   A.K.A.: "Pop"   
      
   Classification: Mass murderer   
   Characteristics: Revenge   
   Number of victims: 12   
   Date of murders: 1971 / June 17-18, 1990   
   Date of birth: 1948   
   Victims profile: David Pender / Louis Carl Bacon (pimp) and   
   Doretta Drake (prostitute) / Nine employees and customers of   
   General Motors   
   Method of murder: Shooting (.30 caliber M1 rifle and a .38   
   revolver)   
   Location: Jacksonville, Florida, USA   
   Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself on June 18, 1990   
      
   James Edward Pough (1948 – 18 June 1990) was an American mass   
   murderer.   
      
   On 18 June 1990, Pough, 42, shot 17 people, killing 10 before   
   killing himself in a shooting spree in a General Motors   
   Acceptance Corporation car loan office in Jacksonville, Florida,   
   after his car, a red 1988 Pontiac, was repossessed.   
      
   Before that day, he was believed to have killed two others - a   
   prostitute and her pimp - and wounded two as well.   
      
   Life   
      
   James Edward "Pop" Pough (1948 - June 18, 1990), who was living   
   in a rundown duplex in Jacksonville's Northwest Quadrant, was   
   known by his neighbors as a quiet and nice man who kept a   
   regular and fixed schedule, though also as someone who got angry   
   fairly quickly and engaged in rage-filled conversations,   
   especially in matters concerning money and his car.   
      
   Pough, an unskilled construction worker and day laborer, who was   
   described by his business agent as one of their best workers and   
   somebody who was never late, was doing construction maintenance   
   at a brewery during the last year of his life.   
      
   After the death of his mother three years prior to the shootings   
   Pough was said to have changed for the worse. Stating that he   
   has nothing left to live for, he argued he will take someone   
   with him when he leaves this world.   
      
   Frequently he had violent outbursts, which were directed against   
   his wife, Theresa, most of the time, and twice he threatened her   
   by putting a gun to her head. In January 1990 they separated, as   
   Mrs. Pough feared for her safety and on March 2, she was granted   
   an injunction that disallowed James Pough to get in contact with   
   her for a year. As a consequence he became reclusive and rarely   
   socialized anymore.   
      
   According to former schoolmates Pough had affiliations with   
   gangs during his time at school. In 1968 Pough was arrested for   
   dangerously displaying a knife and was fined $75.   
      
   In 1971 he was arrested for manslaughter in Duval County after   
   shooting a man to death, David Pender, outside a bar with a .38-   
   caliber pistol and was sentenced to five years probation after   
   pleading guilty to aggravated assault, but the judgment of   
   guilty was withheld by the court subject to the successful   
   completion of probation.   
      
   Due to Pough's violent behavior in the past, it was also ruled   
   that he should never be allowed to own a gun, though this was   
   unknown to police. As a consequence Pough was not considered a   
   felon and therefore was able to purchase several handguns, among   
   them the .38-caliber revolver he later used to commit suicide,   
   which was registered with the police on June 4, 1979. There was   
   also an outstanding warrant for his arrest in a 1982 employment   
   compensation fraud case.   
      
   In January 1990 Pough's 1988 Pontiac Grand Am was voluntarily   
   repossessed by GMAC and he received a bill for $6,394 of   
   outstanding fees in March, which was the last contact between   
   him and the office.   
      
   First attacks   
      
   Pough started his killing spree in the night of June 17 at about   
   12:50 a.m., when he killed a pimp, Louis Carl Bacon, with two   
   shots in the chest, and prostitute Doretta Drake, with a single   
   shot to the head from a M1 Carbine, when they were standing on a   
   corner in the northwest section of Jacksonville, not far from   
   his home. Police assumed that the reason behind these killings   
   was a failed sex-for-money deal. About ten minutes after his   
   first murders he also shot and wounded two youths, 17 and 18   
   years of age, after asking them for directions.   
      
   GMAC massacre   
      
   At about 10:45 a.m. Pough parked his car at the General Motors   
   Acceptance Corporation office located at 7870 Baymeadows Way in   
   Jacksonville. Leaving a 9mm semi-automatic pistol in the trunk   
   of his Buick he entered the building through the front door,   
   armed with his M1 Carbine, a .38-caliber revolver, several   
   loaded magazines and his pockets packed with ammunition, and,   
   without saying a word, immediately began shooting with the M1   
   Carbine, killing customer Julia Burgess at the front counter.   
      
   Walking through the open office he then systematically, though   
   discontinuously moved from desk to desk and shot at the GMAC   
   workers, often deliberately aiming at people hiding under their   
   tables.   
      
   Drew Woods was the first to be shot at his desk, just to be   
   followed by Cynthia Perry and Barbara Holland nearby, as well as   
   42-year-old Phyllis Griggs, who was injured. When the GMAC   
   employees realized what was going on, many of them escaped   
   through a back door of the building, while Pough started picking   
   off those ducking for cover, and shot, one after the other,   
   Janice David, Sharon Hall, Jewell Belote, Lee Simonton, Denise   
   Highfill, Ron Echevarria, David Hendrix and Nancy Dill.   
      
   Before he put the .38-caliber revolver to his head and committed   
   suicide, Pough fired 28 rounds from his rifle, hitting 12 of the   
   85 workers at the office, some of them being shot seven and   
   eight times. Six of his victims and the gunman himself died at   
   the scene, while another three died at hospital, the last being   
   Jewell Belote, who succumbed to his wounds nine days after the   
   shooting, which had lasted no longer than a few minutes. It was   
   the worst single day massacre by a lone gunman in Florida   
   history, surpassing the murder of eight machine shop employees   
   in Hialeah by Carl Robert Brown on August 20, 1982.   
      
   Victims   
      
   Louis Carl Bacon, 39, shot on June 17   
   Doretta Drake, 30, shot on June 17   
   Jewell Belote, 50   
   Julia White Burgess, 42   
   Janice David, 40   
   Sharon Louise Hall, 45   
   Denise Sapp Highfill, 36   
   Barbara Duckwall Holland, 45   
   Cynthia L. Perry, 30   
   Lee Simonton, 33   
   Drew Woods, 38   
   Wikipedia.org   
      
   GMAC massacre   
      
   On June 18, 1990, James Edward Pough walked into the General   
   Motors Acceptance Corporation Office, Jacksonville, Florida and   
   killed nine employees and customers. He then killed himself.   
   Four people were injured. The firearms used in the crime were a   
   Universal .30 caliber M1 rifle and a .38 revolver.   
      
   Pough was upset because his 1988 Pontiac Grand Am was   
   repossessed. He purchased the car for $9,700 in September of   
   1988. Pough gave the car back to GMAC in January 1990. His anger   
   had been stoked by repeated letters from GMAC requesting a   
   payment of $6,394. This was the remaining loan balance after the   
   car was sold.   
      
   Pough was also suspected in the robbery of a convenience store,   
   a hit-and-run against a pedestrian, shooting two people, and the   
   murder of two people on June 17, 1990.   
      
   The GMAC office was located at 7870 Baymeadows Way. It never   
   reopened in this location. The GMAC building was renovated and   
      
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