Facts of the Crime:
The Lindhurst High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on May 1, 1992 at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst. The gunman, 20-year-old Eric Houston, was a former student at Lindhurst High School. Houston killed three students and one teacher, and wounded nine others before Houston surrendered to police. On April 30, 1992 Eric Houston phoned the principal of Lindhurst High School, threatening to "shoot up a school rally" to be held on the following day. The pep rally was cancelled. Eric nonetheless arrived on the school campus the following day, armed with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and a sawed-off .22 caliber rifle around 2:40 p.m. As he entered the school, he fatally shot teacher Robert Brens, his Civics teacher during his senior year. He then shot and killed Judy Davis, a 17-year-old student inside Brens' classroom. Houston then walked through the hallway outside the classroom and fatally shot student Jason Edward White in the chest.
Further on, Houston pointed his shotgun at a female student, but before he could fire his weapon, another student, Beamon A. Hill, pushed her aside and took the shotgun blast to the side of his head. Houston then entered a classroom with about 25 to 30 students inside. According to reports, Houston would send a student to retrieve more hostages, and eventually held over 80 students hostage. He engaged in an eight-hour standoff with police before surrendering to authorities. While in police custody, Eric Houston stated that he was despondent over losing his job and was angered that he had failed to graduate from high school or obtain a GED. He also confessed to holding a grudge against his former Civics teacher Robert Brens, who failed Houston in his class. Houston was found guilty on all charges against him.
Houston was sentenced to death on September 20, 1993 in Napa County.
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