On December 30, 1974, at approximately 2:50 p.m., Olean High School in Olean, New York, became the site of one of America’s first modern school massacres. The shooter was Anthony F. Barbaro, a 17-year-old honors student and rifle-team member who had won a Regents Scholarship that month and ranked eighth in his class of nearly 290 seniors.
Barbaro arrived on campus during winter break, when only staff—including secretaries, custodians, and administrators—were present; the main entrances were left unlocked. He brought two high-powered firearms—a bolt-action .30‑06 rifle with telescopic sight and a 12‑gauge shotgun—and entered through a side door, leaving the vehicle running outside.
He went to a third-floor student council room and attempted to ignite a smoke bomb made from a gasoline-filled bottle. When he discovered the door locked, he shot off the lock, barricaded the door, and began firing randomly out the windows at people on the street below. Earl Metcalf, a 62-year-old custodian, was shot and killed after confronting him. The sniper fired a total of 31 rounds over the course of the standoff.
Three individuals lost their lives that afternoon: Metcalf; Neal Pilon, a 58-year-old city gas company worker shot while crossing the street; and Carmen Wright Drayton, a 25-year-old pregnant woman who was killed inside her car by a stray bullet.Eleven others were wounded, including seven by gunfire and four hurt by flying glass and debris—many of them first responders drawn by the smoke alarm call.
Law enforcement surrounding the school eventually deployed tear gas into the room. Barbaro was found unconscious with a gas mask at the scene. He was transported, unharmed, to the local jail and charged with three counts of second‑degree murder, six counts of first‑degree assault, and five counts of first‑degree reckless endangerment; however, all charges were dropped after his suicide.
On November 1, 1975, while awaiting trial in the Cattaraugus County Jail, Barbaro hanged himself with bedsheets and left behind three suicide notes—including one expressing regret for unfulfilled life experiences and stating that he had killed to force someone to kill him because he couldn’t kill himself. Barbaro’s actions shattered the calm of his hometown and repositioned school shootings from statistical footnotes into national consciousness. Despite being a top student with no criminal record, his calculated attack from a high school window foretold a grim future of threats once thought unimaginable within the corridors of education.
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