Colin Ferguson And The Long Island Railroad Massacre

Long Island Railroad Massacre

On December 7, 1993 Colin Ferguson boarded a Long Island commuter train at the Merillon Avenue station and open fired on unarmed passengers. Six were killed and nineteen were injured. Colin Ferguson was born on January 14, 1959 in Kingston, Jamaica to Von Herman and May Ferguson. According to the about news web blog he was a highly regarded businessman in Jamaica. In 1978 his father was killed in a deadly car crash, not long after that his mother passed away from cancer. Not only did he lose both of his parents but he also suffered from the loss of his family fortune, after these losses Ferguson was left deeply disturbed. When Ferguson was 23 years old he moved to the United States on a visitors visa. The

In 1992 his ex-wife complained that he had tried to pry open the trunk of her car. In February he was taking the subway when a woman tried to sit in the empty set next to him. She asked him to move over and he instead screamed at her pressing her against the wall with his arm and leg up against her. The police intervened. He attempted to get away and called out to the other African Americans on board saying “brothers come help me”. He was arrested and charged with harassment. Ferguson later wrote a letter to the police commissioner saying that the officers on duty that day had brutalized him and were racist. In 1993 he moved to California and bought a gun. He carried it in a paper bag with him at all times because he had been mugged by two African Americans. In May of that year he moved back to NY because he “hated competing for jobs with immigrants and Hispanics.” Once he moved back people started to notice a change in him. He started talking in third person and go on rants about blacks striking down, “their pompous rulers and oppressors.” He was known to shower multiple times a day and would chant, “all the black people killing the white people.” He was then asked to vacate his apartment at the end of the month due to the fear and anger of the other

Long Island commuter train leaving from the Pennsylvania Station in NYC to Hicksville, NY. He boarded with his gun and 160 rounds of ammunition. As the train approached Merillon Avenue Station, he stood up and began to open fire on the passengers. He kept yelling and repeating “I’m going to get you” to all the passengers on board. After he emptied two 15-round magazines, he began to reload a third. Passengers Michael O’ Connor, Kevin Blum and Mark McEntee tackled him down to the ground and pinned him until police arrived at the scene. Six passengers were killed, Amy Federici (27), James Gorycki (51), Mi Kyung Kim (27), Maria Theresa Tumangan Magtoto (30), Dennis McCarthy (52), and Richard Nettleton