On a summer day at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington, the life of Dr. Thomas Erwin Brigham, a 31-year-old White male, was cut tragically short. It was June 20, 1994, and the Air Force Major and psychiatrist was at his office in the base hospital annex when a former patient, 20-year-old Dean A. Mellberg, arrived with a duffel bag and a deadly grudge. Mellberg, an airman who had been discharged from the Air Force in May due to psychological issues, blamed Dr.
Brigham and his colleague, Captain Alan W. London, for the recommendation that ended his military career.
Dressed in black, Mellberg took a taxi to the hospital, entered the annex, and proceeded to the office shared by the two men who had deemed him unfit for service. Inside the bag, he carried a Chinese-made MAK-90 semi-automatic rifle with a 75-round drum magazine. He opened fire, killing both Dr. Brigham and Capt. London. The violent rampage continued as Mellberg moved through the hospital and into the parking lot, shooting randomly. In the end, two other people, an 8-year-old girl and the 39-year-old wife of a service member, were killed, and 22 others were wounded.
The chaotic scene came to an end when a military police officer, Senior Airman Andy Brown, confronted Mellberg in the hospital parking lot. Brown shot and killed Mellberg, preventing further bloodshed. Because the sole suspect in the shooting that claimed the life of Dr. Brigham and three others was killed at the scene, no arrests were made in connection with the horrific event. The incident left the Fairchild Air Force Base community in mourning for the lives lost in the senseless act of violence.
