On the morning of March 6, 1915, the peaceful atmosphere of downtown Brunswick, Georgia, was shattered in a mere ten minutes of shocking violence. A 59-year-old White male named George W. Asbell, a former police officer and streetcar conductor, was one of five people who lost their lives in a shooting rampage.
The perpetrator, identified as Monroe Phillips, embarked on his deadly path with a double-barrel shotgun.
The motive for the initial attack appeared to be a grudge against Judge Harry F. Dunwoody, whom Phillips shot and killed in his second-floor office. After murdering the judge and wounding another man, Phillips calmly reloaded his weapon and proceeded downstairs to continue his assault on the unsuspecting citizens of Brunswick.
Asbell was tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time, exiting Branch's Drug Store as Phillips continued his deadly spree. Phillips shot and killed Asbell before moving on to claim more victims. The wave of terror that swept through the city saw a total of five people killed and 32 others wounded.
The carnage only ceased when two local men, E.C. Butts and R.J. Minehan, armed themselves and confronted the shooter. Phillips was ultimately shot and killed inside a local drug store as he was attempting to reload his shotgun. Since the suspect, Monroe Phillips, was killed at the scene of his crimes, there were no subsequent arrests or trials related to the death of George Asbell and the other victims of the 1915 Brunswick mass shooting.
