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Kenneth BAUMRUK

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: St. Louis County courthouse shooting - Divorce hearing
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: May 5, 1992
Date of arrest: Same day (wounded by police)
Date of birth: 1940
Victim profile: His wife, Mary Baumruk
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: St. Louis County, Missouri, USA
Status: Sentenced to death, 1994. Resentenced to death, 2007
 
 
 
 
 

Supreme Court of Missouri

 
opinion SC83745
 
 
 
 
 
 

State of Missouri vs. Kenneth Baumruk

Missouri Supreme Court Case Number SC83745

Case Facts:

In May 1992, Kenneth Baumruk came to the St. Louis County courthouse for a hearing in his divorce case.

At the time, the courthouse did not have metal detectors in place, and Baumruk was able to bring into the courtroom two loaded .38-caliber guns that he had purchased in the state of Washington, where he was living at the time.

At the same time, a security meeting was occurring elsewhere in the courthouse.

While his wife, Mary, was testifying that she wished to waive a conflict of interest involving her attorney, Baumruk stood and shot her in the neck. He then shot Pollard in the chest and his own attorney, Garry Seltzer, in the chest and back.

He then put a gun near his wife's head and shot her again, killing her. He next shot at the judge, who fled through the door behind the bench.

By the time Baumruk was subdued, he had shot nine people, including a bailiff and security guard, in various parts of the courthouse. Baumruk was shot nine times, including two shots to his head.

As he was being handcuffed, he asked two police officers if he had killed his wife. Later, in the emergency room, he told a doctor he had shot Mary because of the divorce.

After the shooting, which received much media attention, the county paid to double the number of security guards at the courthouse and to install metal detectors there.

 
 

Baumruk sentenced to death

March 20, 2007

Kenneth Baumruk showed no emotion as he heard himself sentenced to death, again, for killing his estranged wife in a St. Louis County courthouse shooting 15 years ago. Baumruk killed her during a divorce hearing. He wounded several the people before a security guard ended the spree by shooting him in the head. His competence to stand trial has been questioned for most of the 15 years.

His step-daughter, who was in the courtroom on the day of the shooting, says she wants to watch his execution - which is likely to be several years away. Baumruk will be 68 next month, the oldest prisoner in Missouri facing a death sentence. The oldest person executed in Missouri was Lambus Allen, who was 73 when he was gassed in 1944.

 
 


Kenneth Baumruk, 2001.

 


Kenneth Baumruk showed no emotion as he heard himself
sentenced to death, again, in 2007.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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