George Banks, once among the most notorious mass murderers in US history, died Sunday (Nov. 2) at the age of 83 while serving a life sentence at Phoenix State Prison in Pennsylvania. He succumbed to complications from kidney cancer, according to state prison officials.
1982 Wilkes-Barre Massacre
Banks’ name became synonymous with one of America’s deadliest family massacres after he killed 13 people — including five of his own children — during a rampage in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on September 25, 1982. Armed with an AR-15 rifle, Banks opened fire, killing his children, their mothers and several bystanders. Only one teenager survived.
Victims
Among the dead were Banks’ five children, ages 1 to 6, and four women who were the mothers of his children. Other victims included two young children — an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old — and a teenager who recognized Banks while running away from home. He later killed more victims in a nearby trailer park before surrendering after a four-hour standoff.
Motive
Defense attorneys argued that Banks was insane during the killings. After his arrest, the biracial former prison guard claimed he murdered his children to “save them from growing up in a racist society.” He behaved erratically in court—at times insisting there was a conspiracy against him involving prosecutors, judges and the mayor of Wilkes-Barre.
Consequences and sentence
Banks was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder and one count of third-degree murder. Although he was originally sentenced to death, state courts later found him mentally unfit for execution and commuted his sentence to life in prison.
A legacy of horror
The Wilkes-Barre massacre shocked the nation in 1982 and was considered one of the worst family murders in US history. Decades later, survivors and community members continued to express frustration that Banks was never executed, while others cited his deteriorating mental state as justification for the court’s decision.
Banks spent more than four decades behind bars before his death, closing a dark chapter in Pennsylvania’s criminal history.
