On a cold December afternoon in Olean, New York, the life of 25-year-old Carmen Wright Drayton was tragically cut short. It was December 30, 1974, and the pregnant woman was driving near Olean High School when she was struck by a bullet. Her death was part of a senseless act of violence that claimed the lives of two others and injured eleven more.
The person responsible for the carnage was Anthony F. Barbaro, a 17-year-old honor student and a star marksman on his school's rifle team. For reasons that remain shrouded in mystery, Barbaro entered the deserted high school during the Christmas break armed with a rifle. He made his way to the third floor, where he began indiscriminately firing at people below.
The first to fall victim to Barbaro's rampage was Earl Metcalf, a 62-year-old custodian at the school. Another man, 58-year-old Neal Pilon, was also shot and killed as he crossed a street near the school. Carmen Wright Drayton became the third fatality when a bullet pierced the car she was in. The shooting spree continued, injuring a total of eleven people, including eight firefighters who had responded to a fire alarm that Barbaro had set off.
After a tense standoff with police, Barbaro was apprehended. He was subsequently charged with three counts of second-degree murder, six counts of first-degree assault, and five counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. In the ensuing legal proceedings, Barbaro pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. However, before a verdict could be reached in his trial, Anthony Barbaro took his own life. On November 1, 1975, he was found to have hanged himself in his jail cell, leaving behind a note that offered a glimpse into his troubled mind, stating, 'I guess I just wanted to kill the person I hate most -- myself, I just didn't have the courage. I wanted to die, but I couldn't do it, so I had to get someone to do it for me. It didn't work out.'
