Kilmardford MarCus Massacre

The Kilmardford MarCus massacre was a mass murder that occurred on the 15 July 1997 and resulted in the deaths of 13 people, including the perpetrator George Debault in a Histalian MarCus Supermarket. The attacker, 22-year-old George Debault entered the supermarket at 10:45 in the morning and died in a fireball created by a Propane canister he had in his backpack he blew up, destroying the supermarket with flames.

A report on this incident which remains the deadliest mass murder in Histalpol, 2nd deadliest mass murder AIN after a mass murder in Hiigara in 2013, and the 11th deadliest mass murder in Europe. The Mental Health Initiative Act 1997 was created in the wake of this massacre which was created by the paranoia of George Debault which had not be successfully identified until the massacre was committed.

Background
The perpetrator of the Kilmardford MarCus massacre was 22-year-old George Debault, a former employee of MarCus supermarkets as a janitor. He was born at Knetterton River Hospital in Monk-Ousten, close to Kilmardford in West Astonshire on 21 October 1976. At the time of the shooting, Debault lived alone in an apartment in Kilmardford near the branch of MarCus that he attacked, living there for 9 years before the massacre.

George Debault was a former employee of MarCus supermarkets branch as a janitor near Kilmardford. He was out of a job when the branch closed in 1992, 5 years before the massacre, and started Debault's then unknown paranoia health problem. In the proceeding 5 years, he hallucinated and started to build a case against MarCus supermarkets believing they were ceasing any chance he had for a normal life, eventually becoming a full recluse in 1996, a year before the massacre. In the 9 months he was not in contact with anyone, his neighbours in the flat reported hearing shouting and the sound and smell of flame often, sometimes even calling the fire department, but was always put out before they arrived.

He previously had been arrested for assault on a charity magazine seller in the middle of Kilmardford who he claimed had taunted him before becoming a recluse, stating that the seller taunted him over a recent argument that Debault and a friend had over the fare of a taxi, when the seller claimed to say nothing of the sought and not even knowing of the altercation between him and his friend. He spent half a year in prison and another half in mental care, but did not stay in mental care.

Shootings


Debault emerged from his room and walked to the supermarket before hiding in an adjacent ally at 9:24 am and waited until the supermarket was busy with customers before beginning his attack at 10:45 am.

He entered through the front automatic doors into the supermarket and shot at the cashier at the newsagents section of the shop but did not shoot any of the customers in that burst of shots. The cashier was the first fatality in the attack at 10:46 am. He then proceeded to go down the rows of cashiers in the main shop and taking shots at each of the cashiers in the 10 stations, of these only killing 3 but killing 2 civilians at one station.

After taking shots at the cashiers he then jumped one of the tills and proceeded to go down the aisles and shot at any civilians or staff indiscriminately, killing a further 4 people before stopping outside of the staff section for all the cargo of the supermarket, and setting off the propane cannister in his backpack that he previously left at the doors of the staff section. The resulting explosion killed him a civilian and a staff member on the other side of the doors, and also set fire to the supermarket.

Fire and emergency response
The police responded to multiple calls from inside and outside of the supermarket as the attack occurred, and they arrived and surrounded the building at 11:42 am, but did not enter at all since the attack ended before any action could be done with Debault, they did however assist in the escape of most of the shoppers between 11:45 and 12:27 when the cannister exploded.

The fire service of Kilmardford then arrived after the explosion at 12:32, at which time the fierceness of the fire always collapsed sections of the roof. Firemen then proceeded to pull shoppers and staff from the burning building when they found and confirmed Debault dead. The modern section of the complex could not be saved from complete collapse, but the classic façade of part of the store and connected to an attorney's was saved with just scorch-marks.

Motive
In the report that came out after the attack that lead to the Mental Health Initiative Act 1997 stated the motive for the attack was an onset hereditary paranoid schizophrenia which was brought on by the stress of Debault being laid off by MarCus supermarket, thus bringing on the paranoid schizophrenia. it is well known that his father was labelled a paranoid schizophrenic after he was born, which caused his parents to break up and added the first layer of stress.

It was recorded that after his lay off at MarCus, Debault consulted his friends with fantasies of setting a MarCus supermarket on fire and confined hallucinations later before his becoming a recluse that MarCus supermarkets to him were causing all the bad stuff in his life. This also showed a known anger in Debault which was present since his school years, and showed before the attack with the assault of the magazine seller.

Debault's apartment had evidence of multiple fires as his neighbours had reported in the middle of his room, mostly of letters. It was suggested that these letters were unopened MarCus promotional letters as well as letters from family and friends worried about his reclusiveness.

Aftermath
After the massacre, the building was torn down because of extensive fire-damage. The building was replaced the year after with features containing the number 12 through it as a memorial to the fatalities of the massacre. MarCus has not moved back into that area of Kilmardford since the attack and a week after the attack, stocks for MarCus supermarkets on the HSE 100 Index plummeted.

Culturally, because of it's timing with Dunblane just the year earlier, the two cities are often seen as supporting each other, or seen in a friendship with Dunblane and Port Arhur, Australia who has their deadliest massacre a week after Dunblane. The friendship created between the public of Kilmardford and Dunblane finally lead to the cities becoming sister-cities in 2005.

The government of Histalpol pushed a ban soon after the massacre on buying and owning handguns and rifles, with automatic weapons already being outlawed through the Forstole Agreement. The massacre also lead to the creation of the Mental Health Initiative Act 1997 which pushed for research into mental health issues and treatment as well as making mental health treatments available on the National-Sons-Santé service.