European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 19, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 3 shocked woman sees no motive for massacre committed by grandson Lodi Calif. A Patrick e. Purdy was a child alcoholic and Drifting loner but his grandmother says he had no racial prejudice or other known motive to drive him to fire on a crowded schoolyard with mostly Oriental children. Julia Chumbley believes the reason behind her grandson s assault May have died with him when he took his own life tuesday after using an assault Rifle to kill five children and wound 30 others in stockton15 Miles South of Lodi. I Don t understand Why and i probably won t Ever know Why said Chumbley a 63-year-old retired can Nery worker. I m shocked. It s just  despite a troubled childhood and a Long criminal record As an adult Purdy lacked racial prejudices against asians or other groups hatreds or other outward signs that might have foreshadowed the disaster his grandmother said. As far As i know he was not prejudiced. We re not a prejudiced family. We weren t raised that Way said Chumbley who has lived for three decades in Lodi a town in the farming Rich san Joaquin Valley. When he was around Here he acted Well she said. Chumbley said her 26-year-old grandson who also went by the alias Patrick West had Only a Normal interest i guns. All boys that age like guns she said. It s Normal for that age in t it Purdy s father Patrick Benjamin Purdy a Lodi cab company employee was killed in september 1981 when he was struck by a car As he was crossing a Rural Road. The death disturbed the younger Purdy but Chumbley said he seemed to have recovered from the loss. The elder Purdy also served in Vietnam which did not seem to have any apparent influence on the younger Purdy she said. Chumbley also said that to her knowledge her grandson never attended Cleveland elementary school where the attack took place. A majority of the school s pupils Are children of Southeast asian refugees. He seemed like a real Nice Young Man said Pat Thom As 45, who lives next door to Purdy s aunt in the Portland Ore., suburb of Sandy where the Young Man lived from july through october last year. He was Here looking  but while Purdy was in Sandy last August he also Pur chased the ak-47 assault Rifle used in the rampage police said. Sandy police chief Fred Punzel said Purdy s aunt Julie Michael told him that the gunman had a troubled upbringing a prelude to what Stockton police described As an extensive criminal history including convictions for weapons narcotics and soliciting for sex. She told me he was a loner and As a child he was a alcoholic Punzel said. Purdy visited his grandmother about twice a year using her address to pick up his mail which included Magazine son welding. Chumbley said Purdy s parents were married in Stock ton then divorced after a Short time. His Mother remarried and took Purdy to the Lake Tahoe nev., Region and then tothe Sacramento area. He dropped out of High school and began Drifting about 10 years ago crisscrossing the nation looking for work his grandmother said. He visited her occasionally. Punzel said Michael told him that Purdy left Oregon for a Job As a boilermaker in Texas. That Job fell through and Patrick Purdy he went to Memphis Tenn. The aunt and Uncle last heard from Purdy at thanksgiving when he was in Connecticut Punzel said. He had a Girlfriend for a time in Stockton his grand Mother said. But that was some time ago she added. Early last year he began attending vocational classes in welding at san Joaquin Delta Community College in Stock ton. It troubles me to think that such a terrible thing can happen Chumbley said. It s like a  in a weary voice she added this is the sort of thing that happens to others. Not to you. Your own  lethal assault Rifle called shamefully easy to buy paramedics treat a boy injured in tuesday s shooting at a Stockton schoolyard. By the los Angeles times Stockton Calif. Within hours of the carnage in the Stockton school Yard Law enforcement officials knew a lot about the semiautomatic assault Rifle that Patrick Edward Purdy wielded tuesday with such deadly accuracy. They knew who manufactured it. They knew the name of its new York importer and the location of the Oregon store that sold it to Purdy. They knew he had fixed a Bayonet to the barrel and carved Freedom and Victory on the gun s wooden grip. They even had a Good estimate of the num Ber of rounds of steel piercing ammunition the gun had sprayed Over the school s play ground in three to four minutes. But there is nothing they can do to prevent ak-47s from being sold. Under the present Laws these guns Are getting into the wrong hands said Mario Fontana a spokesman for the . Bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms in los Angeles. They re easier to buy than  buyers of hand guns in California must wait for a 15-Day background investigation by the state be fore they can obtain their weapons. In Oregon where Purdy purchased his lethal weapon last aug. 3, and in califor Nia where he used it to fire off More than 50 rounds of ammunition tuesday state Laws permit assault rifles to be sold Over the counter with no waiting and a minimum of paper work. And Federal Law requires Little More than purchasers assertion on paper that they Are neither felons nor mentally  Purdy filled out such a form aug. 3, the same Day he took Possession of his Rifle. Stockton police said tuesday that the As Sault Rifle they found lying near Purdy s body had been purchased aug. 3 from the Sandy trading Post in Sandy Ore. Police sgt. John j. Wilson said the Rifle which Sel Dom costs More than $400, was manufactured in China and imported by a new Yor Kimport concern known As Sile. Displaying the Rifle to reporters in a trailer outside Stockton police Headquarters Wil son said the weapon s punch was so great that bullets fired by Purdy penetrated sever Al layers of classroom Walls. One Bullet ripped through a steel Post 3 inches in diameter that protruded from an Over head ladder in the playground Wilson said. Police recovered at least 50 spent rounds from Purdy s Rifle some As far As 60 to 100 Yards away from where they were fired. According to Wilson Purdy had used a curved 30-round banana clip and a 100-round ammunition drum during the three minutes of continuous firing. Police also recovered two unused but loaded banana clips on Purdy s body. First designed in 1946 in the soviet Union by russian Small arms designer Mik Hail Timof Yevich Kalashnikov the ak-47 became a weapon prize by soviet ground troops and by communist guerrilla factions such As the Viet Cong during insurgencies throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In the last several years Law enforcement officials estimate that More than 80,000 chinese replicas of the soviet weapon the kind apparently purchased by Purdy have been imported into the United states. Police agencies say the rifles which Are too Power Ful to be used in Hunting or target practice Are primarily used in Street crimes. The Laws Are shamefully lenient restrict ing Access to these weapons particularly when you consider what a person s purpose would be for owning such a weapon said los Angeles police department spokesman it. Fred Nixon. It is used strictly to kill other human  a statewide coalition of Law enforcement officials formed last fall to push the califor Nia legislature to outlaw the manufacture and Sale of assault weapons in the state. The proposal would specifically outlaw the a 47, but faces opposition by the powerful National Rifle association lobby