Cleveland School massacre

The Stockton schoolyard shooting (also known as the Cleveland School massacre) occurred on January 17, 1989, at Cleveland Elementary School at 20 East Fulton Street in , United States. The gunman, Patrick Purdy, who had a long criminal history, shot and killed five schoolchildren and wounded 32 others before committing suicide. His victims were predominantly Southeast Asian refugees. This particular shooting happened almost exactly 10 years after another school shooting in San Diego, which also happened to be at a school named Cleveland Elementary.

On Tuesday morning January 17, 1989, an anonymous person phoned the Stockton Police Department regarding a death threat against Cleveland Elementary School. At noon that day, Patrick Purdy, a disturbed drifter and former Stockton resident, began his attack by setting his fireworks-laden Chevrolet Van on fire with a Molotov cocktail after parking it behind the school, later causing the van to explode. He went to the school playground, where he began firing with a semi-automatic rifle from behind a portable building. Purdy fired 106 rounds in three minutes, killing five children and wounding thirty others, including one teacher.

All of those who died and many of the wounded were Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants, who had come with families to the United States as refugees. Purdy committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Purdy had carved the words "freedom", "victory", "Earthman", and "Hezbollah" on his rifle, and his flak jacket was inscribed with "PLO", "Libya", and "death to the Great Satin" [sic].

Patrick Edward Purdy (November 10, 1964 – January 17, 1989) was an unemployed former welder and drifter. He was born in Tacoma, Washington, to Patrick Benjamin Purdy and Kathleen Toscano. His father was a soldier in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis at the time of his son's birth. When Patrick was two years old, his mother filed for divorce against her husband after he had threatened to kill her with a firearm. Kathleen later moved with her son to South Lake Tahoe before settling in . Purdy attended Cleveland Elementary School from kindergarten through second grade.