Murder in the Neighborhood /// Part 2 /// Episode: 589 | Forensic Files

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[music] [music] [music] Howard Unrew is often referred to by many authors and reporters as America's
first mass murderer. He gunned down 13 individuals, killing 13 people September 6th, 1949
in the buildings and businesses that surrounded his home that he shared with his mother. During the months leading up
to his murder spree, Howard spent less and less time outside the house and became more and more suspicious of his
neighbors who thought he was strange and made fun of him and called him a mama's
boy. He wrote about them and what he thought they said about him in his diary, marking some names with the word
retail. R E T A L, short for retaliation. Howard seemed to be in the mental state that everybody is out
against him and how everybody is wronging him. And he didn't necessarily have a hit list, but in his diary, he
kind of had a hit list. >> Yeah. He's like making mental note as well as notes in his diary about all
these individuals that either wronged him in some way. And keep in mind, some of these grievances are so minute that
it's almost like I don't know that the person would know that they did something to offend him or upset him.
And so he he's keeping tally, if you will, of all these individuals that live near he and his mother. If they wronged
him in any way, then he's writing retal as in retaliate. You know, I'm going to retaliate against this person. This, in
a weird way, is just a continued behavior of what he was doing when he was in the army and off at World War II.
You know, he was documenting a lot of things in his diary during that time as well. And it didn't just have to do with
his kills or what his wartime victim looked like as when he went up to look at the face of the man that he had just
killed or take something from the soldiers uniform. This included things like what he was eating, where they
were. You know, it wasn't uncommon for individuals to keep a diary or a journal of their time at war.
>> Too bad Howard didn't have Instagram >> and write letters back to their loved
ones. But what was odd was this behavior of writing about his kills and and the the people that he killed during his
time in war. When he returns from war, he's maintaining these diaries, but he's not killing anybody at this time. It
almost looks like he's thinking about killing some of these people and writing it in his journal and keeping track of
these individuals that he believes have wronged him in some form or fashion. Well, we all know somebody that doesn't
think life worked out the way they wanted to, but instead of it being in their hands, that it's the world is out
to get them. And those people, you could say something as a joke or inest and then and they months later bring up how
mad at you they are and you're like, I didn't mean it that way. I was just joking. Well, and this is a personality
trait, a character flaw, if you will, that we have seen in other types of killers that we've profiled on this
show. Ted Kazinski, the uniomber, it was said by everybody that examined him and
reviewed all of his manifesto and his activities and his life after he was apprehended. And they all
said the same thing. This is a guy that couldn't let things go. He would hold grudges. This is a guy that if you
wronged him or you did something that he deemed to be wrong, he would hold it against you for years, decades, if not
the rest of both of your lives. [snorts] And it seems like Howard Unrew shared this character flaw with somebody like
that of Ted Kazinski. Now, Captain, oftent times when we review these stories, there are weird situations that
you just cannot make up. You can't you don't even often know what to do with them at times, but they're so unique
that you have to include them in your telling of the true crime story. And this is a bit of a bizarre situation
that took place shortly after Howard Unrew guns down 13 people and then flees back to his
apartment. Remember, we left off yesterday talking about the standoff between he and the police that
surrounded his home. And during the course of that standoff, we have this brilliant little news reporter that gets
this great idea. He had figured out that it was Howard Unrew or believed that it
was Howard Unrew who had gone through the streets and into these businesses shooting and killing people. And I'm
guessing that he got this from information off of the people on the streets, these eyewitnesses that we
talked about. So, he has this brilliant idea of, you know what, I'm going to get
the scoop, the inside scoop. I'm going to get my name in the paper and I have a story to tell and I'm going to call the
Unrew household and see if I can get Howard on the phone. This is the middle of the police shootout. So the reporter
was a one Phillip Buckston and he was successful and I will read portions of his article not the entire
article but it says Howard Unrew wholesale killer was not too busy to answer the telephone today while he was
still shooting it out with police at his home on River Avenue. Now, keep in mind
back in the ' 40s, back in 1949, the news was everything. And there were often papers that were released during
the morning and then papers that were released in the afternoon or evening. And a lot of times people would have
subscriptions or purchase both the morning and the evening news. And so this is coming from the evening courier,
which was the evening newspaper. So, because Howard Unrew went about his killing spree at the 9:00 hour that
morning, it was able to make it into the evening news. And that's why our reporter is saying he was not too busy
to answer the telephone today while he was still shooting it out with police. Buckston goes on to say, "I was about to
hang up." So, he found Howard Unrew's phone number in the phone book, called the home. He's dialing. It's ringing.
It's ringing. And he's waiting for Howard to pick up. And he says, "I was about to hang up thinking my hunch had
been a dud when I heard the receiver go up and the other end of the line." "Hello," said a strong, clear voice. "Is
this Howard?" I asked. "Yes," said the voice. "This is Howard. What's the last name of the party you want?" Breathless,
I strained my ears to catch the sound of shooting, but there was only silence. It
seemed as though the man at the other end of the line had clapped his hand over the receiver to shut out the sound.
Then the voice, as if stalling for time, repeated, "What's the last name of the man you want?" "Unrew," I said. "Who are
you and what do you want?" I'm a friend and I want to know what they're doing to
you. Well, they haven't done anything to me yet, but I'm doing plenty to them, responded Howard.
How many have you killed? I asked. I don't know yet. I haven't counted them. But it looks like a pretty good score.
Why are you killing people? I asked. Howard responds, I don't know. I can't answer that yet. I'm too busy. I'll have
to talk to you later. a couple of friends are coming to get me. And with that last statement, Howard hung up the
phone. During the middle of the police shootout, he has a conversation with the reporter in which asked why he's killing
people. He says, "I don't know yet." Basically, I'm too busy to have figured that out at this point.
>> Got my hands full. >> And just as you would expect from Howard Unrew, when the reporter says, "I'm just
wanting to know what they're doing to you." meaning the police with the shootout and everything that's going on.
Howard's response is that of somebody that's in some kind of unknown competition to everybody else where he
says, "They haven't done much to me yet, but it looks like I'm doing plenty to them." So Howard believes he's winning
at this point in this bizarre competition that he's having. After Howard is apprehended,
of course, he's going to be interviewed by police and by detectives, and they all kind of say the same thing here,
Captain, that he appeared to be, and this is based off of his appearance and his words and his statements to police,
that he appeared to be calm and sober. And that was bizarre to everybody that had witnessed this situation. He had
killed so many people. It was very difficult to believe that he would be calm and sober. And we already said
yesterday when we talked about some of the statements that Howard Unrew provided to police shortly after his
arrest and in these interviews, one of them was his statement of, "When I came home last night and found my gate had
been taken, I decided to shoot all of them so I would get the right one." It seems to me like he had believed that
possibly the Cohens or one of the Cohens had taken his gate to get back at him for any number of these disputes that
they have already had. But obviously by this statement, what we learn is that he
might have been pretty certain that it was one of the Cohens that stole his gate, but he didn't know for sure. And
so he was just going to shoot everybody so he would get the right one, the one that had wronged him, the person that
had in fact stolen his gate. >> To me, it feels like Howard snapped and once it was all over,
he was questioning what it was all for. And he just seemed to me almost deflated.
I don't think he was necessarily maybe in the moment he seemed a little cocky about everything, but it seemed
like afterwards he's like, I know I did something horrible and I'm going to now suffer the consequences by spending the
rest of my life in jail. >> Well, he would ultimately apologize for killing the children that morning, but
of the adults, he said that they deserved it, and that was his statement that he kind of stuck with. Now,
speaking of interviews, we talked about the reporter who had the bright idea of calling Howard Unrew while he's shooting
it out with police. We had the opportunity earlier to speak with Ellen Green, who is the author of A Murder in
the Neighborhood, which is a book about this massacre. And as you will hear, it was really this interview along with her
book that was the inspiration for us covering this case. as we simply didn't know very much about this case at the
time of the interview. Hello, Ellen, and thank you for joining us here on the show. Could you introduce
yourself to the audience? >> Yes, my name is Ellen J. Green. I am the author of a book that just came out on
April 28th titled Murder in the Neighborhood. It is a non-fiction piece about the first mass shooting in the
United States. What they call the first mass shooting in the United States that happened on September 6th, 1949.
Uh Howard Barton Enrew was a 28-year-old World War II veteran that woke up one morning and he was quite angry at his
neighbors and proceeded to walk down the block and shot 13 people in 12 minutes.
But this story is rather complicated because I'm looking at this Howard Unreal person. And so he it seems like
he snapped and then decided that uh he was going to go into take no prisoners mode and gunning people down. But we say
neighbors, but Howard was living on the second floor above or connected to a drugstore or
pharmacy. Could could you kind of describe that a little bit because it sounds like a unique uh living
situation? >> Yeah, it was a twin building that was on the corner of 32nd and River Road and
there was storefronts facing third facing River Road. Um, one was a pharmacy, the other was empty. There had
been a number of businesses in there, but at this time it was empty. And above those stores were families. And one
family was the Cohen family. The mother, father, 12-year-old boy, and the grandmother. And on the other side, um,
with a common wool was Howard Enrew and his mother. There was a lot of conflicts
between the Unreus and the Cohens. Um, and it had you, there is a map in the book that kind of shows the layout of
the neighborhood and what the crux of the problem had to do with the access to the backyard. the Cohens had prohibited
Howard and his mother from using the gate to get to 32nd Street. Um, and so they had to cross this lot and it
created a lot of conflict between them. >> What do you know about Howard's days spent serving this great country on
World War II? >> So, I did a lot of research and it was hard because a lot of those war records
are gone, but I did come upon a memoir by somebody that was in his unit. um he served in the Battle of the Bulge. You
know, he described in his hospital records of having to shoot prisoners of war, of having seen uh these these
people that were really children at the time, German soldiers that were being killed. It affected him greatly and he
talked a lot about that later. There is a thought that when he started the rampage that morning, he had a kill list
of people that had been bothering him and he started out with the intent of just finding those people and killing
them. But at some point, it's very clear in the whole episode when he started to
spiral that he just went into war mode and he said he felt he was back in the military and he just started shooting
random people including three children. >> Yeah, I saw that. We have victims as young as 6 and 2 years old. Is that
correct? >> Yes. He was walking down the street and he there was an apartment building with
a big window facing 32nd Street and he saw movement in the window and was really agitated at that point and just
shot through the window and hit the 2-year-old in the head. >> Yeah. >> He shot what uh 16 17 people, killing 12
of them. >> Yes. There were three that were wounded, 13 killed. And he's 27 years old at this
time. >> Yeah. 28. >> 28. And uh he's living with his mother. I found a newspaper article that
described him as a and maybe I'm confusing him with one of the victims. There was a pharmaceutical student
involved in this. It it looks like the Cohens were were druggist that they own the River Road Pharmacy. Could you tell
us a little bit more about the the people the casualties? >> Yeah. So, uh, the pharmacist was Maurice
Cohen that owned and operated the pharmacy and lived upstairs and his wife Rose Cohen, the grandmother, Minnie
Cohen, and then they had a 12-year-old son, Charles Cohen. Howard Enrew was at one time a pharmacy student at Temple
University, but he had dropped out. At the time of the incident, he wasn't really doing much with his life. He was
living with his mother. He wasn't working. He wasn't in school. He really did not like the Coins. There was so
much conflict between the families about this gate and about other things. And you know there Howard later in his
hospital records talked about the fact that he was gay and that he was going into Philadelphia and he was seeking the
company of men. His mother was extremely religious. Didn't know anything about this. people kind of sensed in all the
interviews that I did with the with people that still um are alive that they knew he was gay and they tormented him.
It was illegal at that time to be gay. So they actively would call him names, Nancy boy, queer, throw things at him.
It made it life very difficult. He particularly said that the Cohens were picking on
him, that they were calling him names. That was his primary target. and he had actually purchased a machete at some
time before this incident. And when asked by the detectives what he was going to do, he said he had intended to
decapitate all of them. [music] >> [music] >> So these people, and I'm not trying to
defend Howard at all here. I I want to be very clear about that to the audience because certainly these actions are not
warranted at all. So these people are picking on him and teasing him after he risks his life serving the United
States, defending our country and our freedoms. in the greatest world conflict in the history of of our you know
current uh time period. It's just it's I mean it's and I get it. I get it. It's 1949 and it was a much different world
and society back then and as you pointed out just now it's even difficult to believe that at one time it was illegal
to be homosexual. And so it's just it's one of these things when you look at it through the lens of of current day, it's
just uh it's a really bizarre scenario. >> Yeah. And and in the book, it outlines
all of the people in the neighborhood. It kind of gives a glimpse of every what was happening with the people in the
neighborhood. Um he had a very difficult time. You know, they would tease him about not being able to use the gate
that he and his mother had to walk through this lot. They would taunt him. They would call him names. They would
throw things at him. Um, they would jump in his way when he was walking. They would mock the way he he had in a very
erect posture instead of very straight. and they would imitate him. Um, to the point that even coming out of his back
door to try to get to the street, it would start. It's a very congested neighborhood. The houses are all kind of
connected. There isn't a lot of space. So, I don't think he had any way to escape any of that.
>> Yeah. I'm looking at pictures of this area and it looks like people just kind
of living on top of one another. That's how close they were. And yeah, a a photo
of Howard here, you describe the way that he the way that he stands, his posture, the way that he walks. And the
picture I'm seeing here, he he is standing exactly as you described. And he he likely is taller than the police
officers that are surrounding him. This is after he is apprehended, but uh just his posture probably makes him look
taller or appear to be taller than than what he would be heightwise. Now, a couple weird things and and you know
this case really well, but before we get to the weird things, could you tell us a
little bit more about your background? We know you are the author of this this very intriguing book. Can you give us a
little more about your background, Ellen? >> Yeah, for the past 20 years, I have been
uh a therapist in a maximum security correctional facility doing assessments for the courts, doing um therapy
sessions with the inmates. Also during that time I was writing I have four books that I written before this one.
>> What are those titles? >> The very first book is a standalone book called the book of James and then
there's a trilogy twist of faith absolution and silent redemption. I want to say none of this has anything to do
with religion even though they have religious titles. >> Right. >> There's suspense.
>> So this is your first true crime. >> Yes. How do you think that your background
h how were you able to apply that your expertise on that level to your research in your writing of the of of this book,
Murder in the Neighborhood? >> Well, you know, it was very interesting because I was able to get a hold of all
his hospital records. And so I was able to go through and look at his testing and his IQ and and his responses during
the sessions. Now it's different than seeing a person obviously face to face where you can ask them whatever you
want. You just have to take whatever was asked and the answers and you're not getting any inflection or you know the
body language with that. So that was kind of intriguing and I was working with a psychiatrist Dr. Peter Broncado,
who's a forensic psychiatrist, who went through the records with me to try to help paint a portrait, a
three-dimensional picture of what this man was from what we were seeing on the page.
>> And Howard, he lived and was, you know, u obviously uh incarcerated, but he lived till 2009. So, did you did you
ever cross paths with him before any of your research? You you've never you've never met him or something?
>> No. And I was kind of upset because I got the idea to write this book and he passed away and I was like, why didn't I
do this 10 years ago when I could have gone up to actually interview him? No, I never met him. I interviewed a ton of
people that did interview him though. >> Now, in your days at the uh maximum security facility, do you have any
stories you want to share with us from from your time there? Well, I'm actually working on another book called The Many
Faces of Murder about just about the experiences of working with these murderers and seeing these people and
then coming home. Yeah, I'm married. I have two I had two small children when I started there. They were really infants,
toddlers, and trying to manage that and how I compartmentalized all of that because it was very difficult. I would I
would see a woman who brutally brutally killed her child and filmed part of it and then I would leave. Oh, it's time to
go clock out. I have to go home and pick up my son from daycare. I don't know what I've done with all of that. I think
you find a way to put it in a separate compartment. Otherwise, it's going to take over your whole life.
>> Yeah. Doing what I do, it's true crime 24/7. And I've had to figure out a way
to, like you said, put that in its own little box. But at the same time, it does make me, I think, appreciate the
smaller moments more than I might have with not having this experience. And so, it's a it's a unique uh situation. You
don't want to dance in the blood or stand in the doom and gloom for too long. Uh as it will it could it's a it's
a quick drive to crazy town as they say. But um >> yeah, the funny thing is when I was
finished the book and I was looking for photographs and I had the original file from the Philadelphia Inquirer which had
a lot of the crime scene photos and I submitted them all to um bookature saying hey I think these would be great
and I think that I'm a little warped from what I do. They were like nah we can't put those in there Ellen. They're
a little graphic. So I I do think it's changed me a little bit my perspective. There's a couple weird things that I
noticed and maybe you could clear them up. And again, we're looking at 1949, so things are completely different back
then, but it it appears to me that that after the the shootings that there was some kind of standoff that he he had
maybe barricaded himself inside of I guess it was his home, his apartment. >> Yeah. So after the last stop, he shot
the he went into the Harry home and fired. Nobody got killed there. They were both wounded in the arm. He
retreated right through his backyard, went into his house and and just stayed there. You know, whether he went to lay
down, whether he was uh looking out the windows, but the police didn't quite know what was going on. There was a lot
of confusion. And so all these police cars showed up. he had barricaded himself and they were firing at the
building. So if you go and you walk down the street and you look, you can still see the pock marks or the bullets from
the police firing. It's amazing that he did not get killed. And somebody asked me, "Do you think he wanted them to kill
him?" No, he did not. He put out a white flag out the window and said, "I surrender."
And remarkably, they let him come down peacefully. There's pictures of him being arrested, I think, in the book at
the back door and um taking him in. There was no scuffle. There was no nothing. >> A lot of times these types after a mass
shooting will commit suicide, turn the gun on themselves. You don't think that that was part of his quote unquote plan?
>> No, it didn't seem to be part of his psyche. No, I don't even think it occurred to him.
He felt like these people had bothered him. They stole the gate, which is a huge part of this story, that he had put
in this gate so that he could have access to the yard without going through this lot. Somebody had ripped it out the
night before. And that was the last straw. And he felt to his last interview that these people deserved what they
got. And and it he had no remorse, no thoughts of hurting himself, no suicide attempts in his whole entire life.
There's not even any reports of depression. And he was quite matterof fact about it. No, I'm sorry I killed
the children. He didn't know that he had killed the children when he started spiraling. I'm sorry I killed the
children, but the people that deserved it deserved it. >> How long was it after the shooting that
he's apprehended? We know that he barricades himself and and then he waves the white flag, but h how much time
>> we're talking probably between half an hour and 45 minutes. And what's so bizarre here is, you know, we're
expecting to see you hear this story and then you go and you want to look at a picture of of the the situation and of
the perpetrator. And I'm looking at a picture of the perpetrator and you expect to see this disheveled,
crazed madman, right? And here we have this very cleancut, well-dressed. He's wearing a blazer and a bow tie.
>> Yes. during the commission of these murders and and and as he's apprehended. >> Yes. He got dressed up for the event. He
put on his best brown suit, his white shirt, his bow tie, but he had his combat boots. He always wore his combat
boots. >> What type of gun was it? >> He used a 9mm Luger. >> Okay. And the funny part about the Luger
is after his arrest, one of the police officers took it home. Never booked it into evidence and apparently nobody at
the prosecutor's office looked for this weapon and it was found by the officer's
children after he died in 1990. They were going through some things and found this Luger and a bunch of evidence
envelopes and these shell casings and they turned it all back in. Unfortunately, I mean, obviously, this
is a a horrible tragedy and this is probably something that could have been prevented. I don't know the the state of
mind of this individual. I can't speak to that, but it sounds like he was he was picked on quite a bit and he really
felt that these people had wronged him. It looks very much to be a revenge type killing. And if anybody that got in the
way of or stood in the way of him carrying this out was going to be collateral damage. Obviously that
officer knew that this unfortunately a dark day history that we would like to to not
have in the first place but he knew that this was kind of a moment in history. >> I'm just surprised the prosecutor's
office they had all these murder indictments against him even though he was not incarcerated. Not one day they
had the murder indictments. I'm just surprised they didn't notice the weapon was missing.
>> So where do they send him after he is convicted? So he went to well he was never convicted. He was never tried. He
was never nothing. These all the murder indictments were dropped. So what happened was the district attorney at
the time Mitchell Cohen made a decision to have him sent to a psychiatric hospital instead of to jail. Now they
could have had a psychiatrist evaluate him while he was incarcerated which is the usual process. For whatever reason
he bypassed the usual system and sent him right to the hospital for further evaluation. I think the reason for that
was just the extent of the crime. The thing people just didn't do that. They thought he must be insane. So once he
got to the psychiatric hospital, they were waiting for the psychiatrist to say that he was sane and could stand
in trial. So he was just being held at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and he never got out. They just they and in
1980 they just dropped the murder indictments against him. So they he never stood trial. He was the
indictments were dropped um and he was just held on a psychiatric commitment until he died.
>> Now, you've repeated a couple names there. We have some Cohens that were victims. We have the prosecutor with the
last name Cohen. Is that just purely a coincidence? >> That was a coincidence. There was no
relation whatsoever. Now, given your background and applying it to what you've learned of of this case and about
Howard uh and your research and speaking with other people, what would your evaluation be? And and and we all know
you've you did not speak with him face to face. So, we have that hurdle to get over, but what would have your
evaluation been of from what you've been able to gather? >> You know, I wrestled with that because
he had relationships. He had relationships with this Harry Rosel that visited him to the day he died. Um,
there were letters between the two of them. He didn't exhibit any real symptoms of schizophrenia, though he was
diagnosed as schizophrenic. He didn't hear voices. He wasn't delusional. There was no break with reality. The only
thing he had was he was paranoid that he felt um that people were intentionally trying to harm him or thinking bad
things about him. But given the snapshot of what was happening on that block when
he was living there, some of that was reality based. Um I don't know whether he was there a psychiatrist that looked
at it that said he had a personality disorder. Um that he was just antisocial with some paranoid coloring to it. Um,
there was a thought on my part, maybe he was on the spectrum, that he might have
had uh autism, that he was on the higher functioning autistic scale, and that's why people were picking up that there
was something off about him, that he was the target of all of this. So, I'm not quite sure. He's certainly a really
interesting case for people to look at. And I think people could look at it and everybody could come up with a different
opinion. I think what's clear is he did not hit all the marks for classic schizophrenia.
>> And you're so right. When we look at these cases from yester year, especially
ones that are decades and decades old, it's very common place for society to just go, "All right, only a crazy person
would have done what he did." So there's your evaluation right there. That's enough proof for all of us. let's put
them in the uh looney bin, so to speak, and and lock lock them up and throw away
the key. I think your evaluation is very interesting and intriguing. And certainly in 1949, I don't think that we
had a good understanding, if much understanding at all, regarding things like PTSD. and he very likely could have
not likely it's just it's it's even probably highly probable that he had some form of PTSD from his time in the
war. Would you agree? >> Oh yeah, absolutely. And you know at the time there were no
there was a Veterans Affair administration, but there was no real treatment for these veterans that were
coming back. >> And you say that from what you found it appears that he always wore his combat
boots? the people that reported him talking about him and I found this film of people that were interviewed in 1979
and that was very helpful all Yes. They said he always wore his combat boots. >> That would go very much along the lines
of the paranoia that you you spoke of. It's it's like it's like he's waiting for the war or some kind of conflict to
break out and he's making sure that he's ready at all times 247 with these boots
on. >> Yeah. I don't I don't know why he wore them. I don't know if he felt more
comfortable in them. He was waiting for combat, whether he felt he was at war with everybody in the neighborhood, but
um it's pretty consistent that he wore them continuously >> and it's probably likely that he does
himself didn't know why he was wearing them all of the time. It's a it's a crazy story. It's a very tragic story.
Um but uh an intriguing one at that. And it does look like this is one of the first recorded
uh American mass shootings. >> Yes. >> Is there anything else that we should know about the book or about you or
about uh Howard Enra or anything else before we wrap up here today? Ellen, >> no. I think it's a complicated story and
I did the best that I could to put it on the page to try to bring that neighborhood to life. I did consider
writing it in a straight non-fiction documentary kind of style and I played around with it and then I decided that I
was going to do this in a more creative non-fiction way though it's all completely re I spent two years doing
research on this and it interviewed hundreds of people. So, it's all factbased, but I wanted it to read more like a
novel than maybe a a different format the true crime people are used to reading where it's more just um
newspaper style fact uh you know, non-fictionbased. >> Well, the book is called Murder in the
Neighborhood, the true story of America's first recorded mass shooting by Ellen J. Green. Thank you so much, uh
Mrs. Green for speaking with us today. Is there a website or anything that anybody would need to know to uh to find
this good book? >> Yeah, lenj green.com. Um it's available on Amazon. >> Perfect. Thank you so much uh for your
time today. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> One of the privileges [music] of being a
part of True Crime Garage is we get to talk to experts on these cases. fascinating people who have great
insights into these fascinating cases. Now, as we've already said here, Captain Unrew killed 13 people, injured three.
Those killed, their ages range from as young as 2 years old up to 68 years old. Now, we do know that some of the Cohen
family, if not all of the Cohen family, was a target for Howard. And he killed three members of the Cohen family. Dr.
Maurice J. Cohen, aged 39. His mother, Mini Cohen, who was aged 63, and the doctor's wife, Rose Cohen, age 38.
Howard Barton Unrew was and has been labeled as a schizophrenic spree killer and family annihilator. Now, as
explained yesterday, spree killers and serial killers fall into their own categories per the FBI and just general
definitions that we've applied to those titles over the years and decades since Howard Unrew killed all these people.
Howard Unrew absolutely was a mass murderer. And while many have called him the first in America, as you heard there
from Ellen Green, he most certainly was one of the first and labeled this by many an author and reporter, but he was
just one of the first. He actually wasn't the first in America. Also, as you heard there from Miss Green, the
schizophrenic portion part is certainly up for debate and probably just wrong. We need to keep in mind this is 1949 and
things were really looked at very differently back then than they are today. And this is a situation where he
kill goes out and kills 13 people probably intended to kill upwards of 20 or so people. And when this is reviewed
by society in that day, the person has to be crazy. There's no other explanation for it back then. And they
have to give some kind of term. And as you heard Miss Green, he certainly didn't hit all the markers for a typical
schizophrenic individual. And so he is given this label and kept this label all of these years. And in fact, that what
that is what leads him to not being actually charged in these cases. You know, he never has to go to court for
all of these people that he killed. And after he's arrested, he basically gives a very meticulous
account and detailed account of his actions. It's almost like he's reciting things from his diary from war. And so
he's able to give a calm and sober, meticulous account of his actions from earlier that day to police, to
detectives, to law enforcement. And so they send him off to Cooper Hospital for treatment and to be evaluated. And
eventually he's diagnosed to be paranoid schizophrenic by psychologists and he's deemed to be insane. And so
therefore he does not ever really spend any time in an actual prison and he doesn't have to go to court and face
these actual charges. He goes off to the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital where he remained there until his death in 2009.
And he lived to be 88 years old, passing away October 19th, 2009 at the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital in Trenton, New
Jersey. You could pick anywhere to be, but you join us each week and that's why we love
you. Thank you so much for the support. We couldn't do it without you. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for
the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful listeners? >> Why yes, we do, Captain. Of course, we
heard true crime author Ellen J. Green here with us today talking about her latest and greatest book, Murder in the
Neighborhood: The True Story of America's First Recorded Mass Shooting. 28-year-old Howard Barton UNRA shot 13
people in less than 12 minutes on his block in East Camden, New Jersey. Ellen Green uncovers the chilling true story
of Howard Unra, the quiet oddball who meticulously plotted his revenge on the neighbors who shunned him and became one
of America's first mass killers. Check out Murder in the Neighborhood by Ellen J. Green. You can find that great title
and many more on our recommended page at trueimeg.com. And when you're there, make sure you
sign up for our mailing list. We'll see you next week. Until then, be good, be kind, [music] and don't live.
[music] >> [music]

Murder in the Neighborhood /// Part 2 /// Episode: 589

Original Release: 6-14-2022

Part 2 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

With school and workplace shooters such a hot topic these days, this week we thought we would look back on a mass shooting that took place in the good old days. As you know, we here in the Garage would never claimed to be able to solve some of our nations most devastating problems but we will try to understand them. Better understanding of very important issues can help and lead to creating solutions. Now, we have to remember that the good old days weren’t always good and it certainly was not a good day when Howard Unruh decided to “get even” with some people in the neighborhood. This week in the Garage we try to beat the heat by cracking a few cold ones and talking about murderer so cold that you will have a hard time believing that you had not heard of this guy before.

Beer of the Week - Heavy Boots of Lead by SingleCut Beersmiths

Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

This week’s recommended reading is Murder in the Neighborhood: The True Story of America’s first recorded mass shooting by Ellen J. Green. A special thank you to author Ellen J. Green for joining us in the Garage to discuss her fascinating book and for inspiring this week’s episodes.

Brief Summary

Howard Unrew killed 13 people in 1949, driven by paranoia and grievances against his neighbors, as discussed with author Ellen J. Green.

Key points

Howard Unrew: America's First Mass Murderer. On September 6, 1949, Howard Unrew killed 13 people in a shocking rampage.
A Reporter Calls a Killer. In a bizarre twist, a reporter called Howard Unrew during a police shootout.
The Surrender. The suspect waved a white flag and surrendered peacefully after a standoff.
Psychiatric Evaluation. The suspect was deemed insane and never stood trial for his actions.
Murder in the Neighborhood. Ellen J. Green discusses her book about America's first recorded mass shooting.
America's First Recorded Mass Shooting. The chilling story of Howard Barton UNRA, who shot 13 people in under 12 minutes.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I don't know yet. I'm too busy.

Howard Unrew during a phone call with a reporter.

1:05WatchJul 31, 2026

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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