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| “ | When I came out of the house, I saw the policeman, drunk and jumping around like a madman, firing. | „ |
| ~ A victim's account of the shooting. |
Woo Bum-kon (February 24, 1955 - April 27, 1982) was a police officer from South Korea. He murdered 56 people and wounded 36 others before killing himself in a grenade explosion. The rampage remains the second deadliest mass murder, committed by a lone gunman in history right before the 2017 Las Vegas shooting and the 2011 Norway attacks.
Years before the massacre he served with the South Korean marines until 1978. 2 years later in December 1980 he was hired by the National Police in Pusan and settled into a village in December 1981.
On April 26, Woo got into an argument with his girlfriend after she swatted a fly on his chest , he left the house at 4PM and went to the police station to report for duty. He came back to house at 7PM where punched and kicked his girlfriend and broke furniture. He later went back to the police station and armed with self with 2 M2 carbine rifles and several grenades he also carrying 144-180 rounds of ammo, at 9:30 PM he entered a post office where he killed 3 people and cut the phone lines. He then went over to the village of Torongni where he killed 6 people at a marketplace. An hour later he took an 18-year-old boy hostage inside of a grocery store, he later killed the boy and the owners family. In Pyongchon-Ni he killed a family of 4 in their beds and the owner of a house near by saw him and asked what was going on. Woo explained that North Korean agents were spotted, the owner of the house invented him inside for dinner during which he had complained about his salary and being transferred, Woo then started shooting the guests after one of them said the ammo he was carrying looked fake. 12 were killed in the house while 8 were killed in the streets.
Police were alerted after the first shots were fires but it took them and hour to gather officers to search for him, police headquarters were also not notified until 1:40 AM. Woo later took refuge in a farmhouse and told the owner he was chasing a Communist infiltrator and said that the family should gather in said farmhouse so he could protect them. He then took the family hostage until 2 hours later where police officer found him and were closing in on him, Woo detonated 2 grenades where him and 3 hostages were killed.