Mass Shootings in the United States
Wilkes-Barre Shootings
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, U.S.
George Emil Banks was responsible for the 1982 Wilkes-Barre Shootings in the United States. On September 25, 1982, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Jenkins Township, Banks shot and killed 13 people, including seven children (five of whom were his own), their mothers, some of their relatives, and one bystander. Banks was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death after a trial before Allegheny County jurors and presided over by Luzerne County Common Pleas Judge Patrick J. Toole Jr.