206 Cases Solved. Advancing justice for missing persons, unsolved homicides, unidentified and unclaimed remains.
Description
See any errors? Let us know!Michael Morgan McDermott – December 26, 2000 Workplace Mass Murder
Overview
On December 26, 2000, Michael Morgan McDermott, a 42-year-old application support employee at Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, Massachusetts, carried out a brutal mass shooting at his workplace. Armed with an AK-47 variant rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a .32-caliber pistol, he fatally shot seven of his co-workers. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in Massachusetts history .Crime Details
McDermott began his rampage just after 11 a.m., firing a total of 37 rounds, executing victims repeatedly—often with shots to the back of the head . After the killings, he calmly remained in the reception area, where police later found and arrested him without resistance .Motive and Psychotic Claims
Investigators determined that McDermott was enraged over an IRS garnishment order that had resulted in a portion of his wages being withheld by Edgewater to pay back taxes—estimated at about $5,600 . However, during his trial, McDermott presented a bizarre delusional narrative: he claimed that St. Michael the Archangel instructed him to travel back in time and assassinate Adolf Hitler and six Nazi generals in order to earn a soul . Prosecutors countered that these fantastical claims were concocted to support an insanity defense, citing evidence that McDermott had researched how to fake mental illness and even purchased a textbook entitled *Clinical Assessment of Malingering and Deception* . ...Read MoreVictims
See any mistakes? Let us know!Links to Additional Sources (7)
See any mistakes? Let us know!Killer's Details
Mcdermott
Michael
12/26/2000
11:00 AM
200
Harvard Mill Sq
Wakefield
MA
Middlesex County
1880
42.484021
-71.067335
Office building
42
3
1
Yes
1
4 Firearms
explosives at home
08/15/2025
Location:










