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George Banks, Convicted Mass Murderer, Dies at 83. He fatally shot 13 people in Pennsylvania in September 1982.
George Banks, Convicted Mass Murderer, Dies at 83
He fatally shot 13 people in Pennsylvania in September 1982 in what was then one of the nation’s worst mass shootings. Five of the victims were his own children.
Nov. 3, 2025
George Banks in 1985.Clark Van Orden/The Times Leader, via Associated Press
George Banks, who killed 13 people, five of whom were his own children, in a 1982 shooting rampage in Pennsylvania that was one of the nation’s worst mass murders at the time, died on Sunday in prison in Collegeville, Pa. He was 83.
His death in State Correctional Institution Phoenix, a state prison, was confirmed by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The cause was kidney cancer, Dr. Janine Darby, the Montgomery County coroner, said.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 1982, Mr. Banks, a former prison guard and an Army veteran, shot and killed three women and five children, four of whom were his, at his home in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He shot at bystanders as he was leaving, killing one and injuring another, The Times reported.
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He fatally shot 13 people in Pennsylvania in September 1982 in what was then one of the nation’s worst mass shootings. Five of the victims were his own children.
Nov. 3, 2025
George Banks in 1985.Clark Van Orden/The Times Leader, via Associated Press
George Banks, who killed 13 people, five of whom were his own children, in a 1982 shooting rampage in Pennsylvania that was one of the nation’s worst mass murders at the time, died on Sunday in prison in Collegeville, Pa. He was 83.
His death in State Correctional Institution Phoenix, a state prison, was confirmed by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The cause was kidney cancer, Dr. Janine Darby, the Montgomery County coroner, said.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 1982, Mr. Banks, a former prison guard and an Army veteran, shot and killed three women and five children, four of whom were his, at his home in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He shot at bystanders as he was leaving, killing one and injuring another, The Times reported.
{snip}