Victims’ rights advocates, local officials mark 50 years since Houston’s first mass shooting

HOUSTON – Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg joined the Red Elementary School shooting survivors Thursday for National Crime Victims’ Rights Week to remember those that lost their lives in Houston’s first mass shooting 50 years ago this month.

On April 18, 1973, Larry Delon Casey went on a rampage, shooting five people at random, three of them fatally. At the time, officials said he was on probation for burglary.

According to a news release, Casey first shot and killed 86-year-old Beulah Davis as she stood in front of her home. He then killed 5-year-old Claire Patricia Jakubowski as she rode her bicycle in her driveway. Casey fatally shot 10-year-old Jana Whatley as she walked home from Red Elementary School and wounded Lyn Tucker and Karen Kurtz, both 10, as they walked home from the same school. He was arrested soon after, officials said.

Those who attended the news conference included:

• Rania Mankarious, Crime Stoppers of Houston Executive Director
• Celeste Byrom, Harris County DA’s Office Victims Services Division Chief
• Shirley Whatley, mother of Red Elementary shooting victim Jana
• Lyn Tucker, survivor of the Red Elementary shooting
• Bert Graham, survivor and retired assistant district attorney, and
• Victim advocate Libby Hamilton, Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.