Early life Patrick Edward Purdy (November 10, 1964 – January 17, 1989) was born in
Tacoma, Washington, to Patrick Benjamin and Kathleen ( Snyder) Purdy. He had one older sister, Cynthia (b. August 1963). before settling in Stockton, where Purdy attended Cleveland Elementary from kindergarten through to second grade. Resultingly, Purdy seldom saw his father as a young child. Purdy's stepfather would later state that, as a child, his stepson was overly quiet and markedly emotional with a reputation among his peers as a
loner. In the fall of 1973, Purdy's mother and stepfather separated; she moved with her children from Stockton to
Sacramento. That December, the Sacramento
Child Protective Services were twice called to her residence in response to a neighbor's allegations that Kathleen was
physically abusing and
neglecting her children. All three children would be taken into
protective custody due to concerns of neglect, although charges against Purdy's mother were dropped when she agreed to participate in a counseling program. She later regained custody of her children. At his father's urging, Purdy would undergo treatment at a Stockton
drug rehabilitation clinic in the early 1980s. This treatment only produced limited results, although a counselor would note Purdy's behavior was indicative of an individual "seeking a
father figure to restrain him," adding: "If his acting out is not contained now, he will develop into a highly deceptive
sociopathic character and be practically untreatable." On September 6, 1981, Purdy's father died after being struck by a car. His family filed a wrongful death suit in
San Joaquin Superior Court against the driver of the car, seeking $600,000 in damages; the suit was later dismissed. According to relatives, although Purdy's father had left his son $5,000 in his
will, his mother refused to give him his instead using the money to purchase herself a car and fund a lavish trip to
New York City. This incident greatly deepened the animosity between the two. Following his father's death, Purdy was briefly homeless; he alternately slept on the streets, in cheap motels, or
flophouses, supporting himself financially with odd jobs, petty theft, and small-time drug dealing. He was eventually placed in the custody of a foster mother in
Los Angeles until he turned eighteen. A single again for a court order would occur in 1981, and further arrests for breaking and entry, cultivation and possession of
marijuana, and drug dealing would occur in 1982. Arrests for
possession of an illegal weapon,
public intoxication, drunk driving, and
receipt of stolen property would occur in 1983. At age nineteen, Purdy briefly relocated to
Florida. He found employment in
Key West, but returned to California after approximately one month. Shortly thereafter, on October 11, 1984, he and another man were arrested for an attempted purse snatching in
Broderick. At the time of this arrest, both Purdy and his accomplice were homeless and living on the shores of the
Sacramento River. Purdy pleaded guilty to being an accessory to a felony and spent thirty-two days in the
Yolo County Jail.
Later years Due to Purdy's alcohol and drug dependency, he was awarded disability support by the
Social Security Administration in November 1984. Beginning in 1985, Purdy did make sporadic efforts to improve his life by undergoing various forms of
vocational training. Although he did pass several courses, he failed to gain many skills.. Purdy and his half-brother were arrested for firing a
semi-automatic pistol at this location in April 1987. In April 1987, Purdy and his half-brother, Albert Gulart Jr., were arrested for firing a
semi-automatic pistol at trees in the
Eldorado National Forest while both were
intoxicated. Both were charged with vandalism and the unlawful discharge of a firearm and, in Purdy's case, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. While incarcerated and awaiting trial for this offense, Purdy attempted suicide by attempting to cut his wrists with his fingernails before hanging himself with his T-shirt. This attempt was thwarted, and weeping at having survived his suicide was restrained to a bed. Transferred to a
psychiatric hospital to undergo a
psychiatric assessment, Purdy was found to have a mild
mental impairment and to be a danger to both himself and others. He was ruled competent to stand trial and pleaded guilty to the outstanding charges. Purdy was sentenced to serve 45 days' imprisonment. In the fall of 1987, Purdy began attending welding classes at
San Joaquin Delta College. He successfully completed two
vocational courses although according to fellow students, he complained about the high percentage of Southeast Asian students enrolled in
industrial arts courses at the facility and of his belief "
boat people" were taking jobs from American citizens. Purdy secured employment at Numeri Tech, a small machine shop located in Stockton, in early January 1988. This employment lasted one month, and from March to May that year, he worked as a also in Stockton. Between July and October, he worked as a
boilermaker in
Portland, Oregon, living in
Sandy with a paternal aunt and her husband. According to Purdy's few friends, although he was never outwardly violent, he periodically exhibited suicidal traits and was openly frustrated that he had failed to "make it [in life] on his own". Another of Purdy's former co-workers also stated: "He was always miserable. I've never seen a guy that didn't want to smile as much as he didn't." this would be the weapon he used in the Stockton schoolyard shooting. That October, Purdy was made redundant. He later relocated to Texas, where he unsuccessfully sought employment before traveling to
Tennessee, securing well-paying welding employment in
Memphis. This lasted for one month, and Purdy worked in menial employment in
Windsor, Connecticut between November and December. Two days later, on December 28, Purdy purchased a Taurus 9mm pistol at a Stockton pawn shop. Sixteen days later, on January 13, he was allowed to collect the weapon. Prior to purchasing this weapon, he had purchased four other handguns, with the first being bought in 1984. Purdy left his motel for the last time at approximately 10:40 on the morning of his death. A search of his motel room following the shooting revealed a broken
.22 caliber rifle, an olive-drab cloth emblazoned with three menacing caricature faces and the inscriptions "V for victory" and "F for Freedom", and over 100 toy plastic soldiers placed in strategic locations throughout the room. although the items recovered led Stockton Police Captain Dennis Perry to remark: "He obviously had a military hangup of some kind ... It suggests this guy may have had delusions of grandeur about Iran." Perry would also dismiss suggestions the murders had been
racially motivated, informing reporters that Purdy held no particular grudge against particular ethnic groups and that as he was "a loner, no friends ... no particularly known girlfriends" he had gradually developed a "distinct dislike for not a particular race, everybody." ==Motive==