Allen Randolph Barrett Jr., a 44-year-old male of unspecified ethnicity, tragically lost his life on October 23, 1967, in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Barrett was one of the victims in a mass shooting carried out by Leo Held, a 40-year-old employee at the Hammermill Paper Company. Held, who had worked at the company for 19 years, executed a meticulously planned attack that resulted in the deaths of six people, including Barrett, and injured six others.
The incident began when Held arrived
at his workplace armed with a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol and a .38-caliber revolver. He first shot his boss, Carmen H. Edwards, 62, at the doorway leading to the engine room. Held then proceeded to the second-floor laboratory, where he fatally shot Allen E. Barrett Jr., 44, Elmer E. Weaver, 37, and Richard Davenport, 32, while also wounding Richard H. Carter, 40, and James Allen, 47. Held's calm and calculated demeanor during the shootings allowed him to walk past a co-worker without raising suspicion.
After leaving the laboratory, Held continued his rampage, shooting and wounding David Overdorf, 27, before moving to the main office where he killed Donald W. Walden, 31. Held then exited the building through the stock preparation room and drove to the nearby Lock Haven Airport office, where he shot Geraldine Ramm, with whom he had shared a carpool, six times, hitting her twice. Held's attack did not stop there; he drove back to his home in Loganton and fatally shot his neighbors, Floyd Quiggle and his wife Donna, as they slept in their bed.
The police were alerted to the shootings and encountered Held as he left his home. A shootout ensued, during which Held was mortally wounded and later died in the hospital two days after the attack. The motive behind Held's actions remained a mystery, as he did not speak to any of his victims before shooting them and maintained the same demeanor throughout the incident.
The mass slaying shocked the community and was considered the worst mass slaying of 1967 in the United States. The incident left a lasting impact on the victims' families and the community of Lock Haven, with many still seeking answers to the motive behind Held's actions.
