John Felton Parish and the 1982 Grand Prairie Warehouse Massacre
Background
John Felton Parish was a 49-year-old truck driver who carried out a deadly workplace rampage in Grand Prairie, Texas, on August 9, 1982. During approximately 25 minutes of violence, Parish killed six people at two warehouse facilities, wounded three others by gunfire, hijacked a tractor-trailer, seriously injured a police officer during a high-speed pursuit, and died in a shootout with law enforcement.
Parish had worked as a truck driver for about 20 years, including jobs in Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas. He previously worked for the Jewel-T warehouse before joining Western Transportation Company in September 1980. Although some former supervisors described him as easygoing, employees at Jewel-T reportedly considered him difficult. Warehouse supervisor Richard T. Svoboda had asked that Parish be removed from a transportation contract involving Jewel-T, preventing him from making further deliveries there.
By August 1982, Parish was also experiencing serious personal and financial problems. He was estranged from his wife, had recently lost a child-custody dispute, and believed Western Transportation owed him approximately $1,600 in unpaid wages. Company supervisor Eddie Eugene Ulrich rejected the claim, maintaining that Parish had received less money because he had worked fewer hours or completed fewer assignments.
The Western Transportation Shootings
At approximately 8:02 a.m. on Monday, August 9, 1982, Parish arrived at a Western Transportation facility in downtown Grand Prairie. He was armed with a shortened M1 carbine, a .38-caliber revolver, and a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol.
Parish entered the building to confront Eddie Ulrich about the disputed wages. The discussion quickly became violent. Parish opened fire, killing Ulrich and two other employees, truck driver Martin Douglas Moran and operations manager Moody Charles Smith.
Parish then took a company bobtail truck and drove approximately half a block to another Western Transportation office. Inside that building, he shot and killed executive secretary Wyvonne Kohler. He also shot receptionist Ruth James in the shoulder and neck and wounded operations manager Burnett Hart in the head.
During the attack, Parish temporarily held office worker Vicki Smallwood at gunpoint while demanding to know the location of a company executive identified as Mike. He threatened to kill her if the executive was not present. Parish eventually recognized Smallwood as the wife of a mechanic he knew and allowed her to leave.
The Jewel-T Warehouse Attack
Parish left Western Transportation and drove about four miles to the Jewel-T warehouse, where he had previously worked and where several employees had been involved in disagreements with him.
After entering the facility, Parish shot and killed district sales manager Dave Bahl. He then proceeded to the shipping office, where he encountered warehouse supervisor Richard T. Svoboda, the man who had previously requested that Parish be removed from the Jewel-T delivery contract.
Parish placed his revolver against Svoboda and shot him at close range. After Svoboda fell, Parish fired another shot. He then chased shipping supervisor Robert Sarabia through part of the building and shot him, leaving Sarabia critically wounded.
Truck Hijacking and Police Pursuit
After leaving the Jewel-T building, Parish approached an 18-wheel tractor-trailer loaded with cookies. The truck was operated by Carl Lorentz. During the confrontation, Lorentz escaped but suffered a broken foot.
Parish took control of the tractor-trailer and drove away from the warehouse. Police officers were already responding to reports of shootings at the two businesses, and a pursuit began through downtown Grand Prairie.
Parish drove the large truck at speeds reported to be approximately 70 miles per hour. Police established a barricade in an attempt to stop him. Officer Alan T. Patton took cover near his patrol vehicle and fired at the approaching truck.
Parish drove directly into the police car. The impact threw the patrol vehicle approximately 20 feet and hurled Patton a considerable distance. Patton suffered a fractured ankle, a broken jaw, a punctured lung, facial injuries, and other serious trauma.
The tractor-trailer continued forward, struck a utility pole, collided with another vehicle, and crashed into the E.L. Murphy Trucking Company building. The truck overturned after striking the structure.
Final Shootout
Parish climbed from the wreckage while continuing to fire at police officers. He entered the trucking company building through an opening created by the crash. Officers pursued him inside, where another exchange of gunfire occurred.
Police shot Parish seven or eight times. He was pronounced dead at approximately 8:27 a.m., about 25 minutes after the first shootings began. Investigators determined that Parish had used all three of his firearms during the rampage. He fired the shortened M1 carbine approximately 28 times and also discharged the revolver. Only one shot was reportedly fired from the .25-caliber pistol.
Victims Killed
- Eddie Eugene Ulrich, 40 — Killed on August 9, 1982, at the Western Transportation facility in Grand Prairie, Texas. Ulrich was a company supervisor involved in Parish's wage dispute.
- Martin Douglas Moran, 30 — Killed on August 9, 1982, at Western Transportation in Grand Prairie. Moran worked as a truck driver for the company.
- Moody Charles Smith, 58 — Killed on August 9, 1982, at Western Transportation in Grand Prairie. Smith was an operations manager.
- Wyvonne Kohler, 45 — Killed on August 9, 1982, at a Western Transportation office approximately half a block from the first shooting location. Kohler was an executive secretary.
- Dave Bahl, 28 — Killed on August 9, 1982, at the Jewel-T warehouse in Grand Prairie. Bahl was the district sales manager.
- Richard T. Svoboda, 37 — Killed on August 9, 1982, inside the Jewel-T warehouse shipping office. Svoboda was a warehouse or distribution supervisor who had previously been involved in removing Parish from a Jewel-T delivery assignment.
People Wounded or Injured
- Ruth James, 19 — Shot in the shoulder and neck at the Western Transportation office on August 9, 1982.
- Burnett Hart, 42 — Shot in the head at the Western Transportation office on August 9, 1982.
- Robert Sarabia, 30 — Shot and critically wounded after being chased inside the Jewel-T warehouse on August 9, 1982.
- Carl Lorentz, 57 — Suffered a broken foot while escaping from the tractor-trailer Parish hijacked at the Jewel-T property.
- Officer Alan T. Patton, 28 — Seriously injured when Parish rammed the officer's patrol car during the police pursuit in downtown Grand Prairie.
Motive and Aftermath
Investigators concluded that the immediate cause of the attack was Parish's belief that Western Transportation had cheated him out of approximately $1,600. His anger was also directed at employees of Jewel-T who had complained about him or participated in removing him from delivery work at that warehouse.
Grand Prairie Police Chief David Kunkle stated that Parish had previously quarreled with the male victims at the two businesses. The female employees who were killed or wounded did not appear to have been central targets and were believed to have been attacked because they were present when Parish entered the offices.
The Grand Prairie warehouse massacre was considered the deadliest shooting rampage in the Dallas-Fort Worth area at that time. The incident combined a targeted workplace attack with indiscriminate violence, hostage-taking, truck hijacking, vehicle ramming, and a final confrontation with police. Parish's death at the scene prevented a criminal trial, leaving investigators to reconstruct his motives through employment records, witness accounts, statements from relatives, and his history of disputes with the victims.
