Joseph Ferguson’s 2001 Sacramento Spree Killings
Overview
On the night of September 8, 2001, 20-year-old Joseph Ferguson—a recently suspended Burns International Security guard—began a 24-hour shooting rampage in Sacramento, California. He murdered five people (four connected to Burns Security and one marina worker), wounded two others during a police pursuit, and killed himself after crashing a stolen car in Rancho Cordova in the early hours of September 10.
Lead-up and Motive Indicators
Ferguson had been suspended from Burns after his ex-girlfriend, fellow guard Nina Susu, reported he had vandalized her car and made threats. Investigators later said he phoned former co-workers during the spree and talked about “outdoing” the mass murders committed in Sacramento weeks earlier by Nikolay Soltys. Police searching his home reported finding white-supremacist paraphernalia.
The Killings: Timeline & Locations
Late on September 8, Ferguson shot two female Burns guards at the Sacramento city corporation (maintenance) yard; roughly 20–30 minutes later he killed two more people at the nearby Miller Park Marina. On September 9, he held a Burns supervisor and the man’s wife hostage at their home in Rancho Cordova’s Lincoln Village neighborhood and murdered the supervisor.
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