{{Short description|1991 mass shooting in Sydney, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}} {{Infobox civilian attack | title = Strathfield massacre | image = Wade Frankum.jpg | caption = Wade Frankum | location = Strathfield, Sydney, Australia | target = Strathfield Plaza | coordinates = {{coord|-33.8729|151.0931|display=inline,title}} | date = {{Start date|df=yes|1991|08|17}} | time = {{circa}} 3:30 p.m.&ndash;3:40 p.m. | timezone = GMT+10 | type = Mass shooting, massacre, mass murder, murder–suicide | fatalities = 8 (including the perpetrator) | injuries = 6 | perp = Wade John Frankum | weapons = *50 cm Bowie knife * Norinco SKS<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122390740 |title=COURTS AND THE LAW Strathfield gunman was a caring person, sister tells inquest |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=66 |issue=20,670 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=15 November 1991|page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> | motive = Unknown }} The '''Strathfield massacre''' was a shooting rampage at Strathfield Plaza in Strathfield, Sydney, Australia, on 17 August 1991. The shooter was Wade Frankum, who killed himself as police arrived at the scene. The incident left eight dead including the gunman and six wounded.

==Massacre== At around 1:00&nbsp;p.m., Frankum went to Strathfield Plaza, a shopping centre in the Inner West of Sydney. He sat in a café called The Coffee Pot, where he drank four cups of coffee.<ref name="remembering1991">{{cite news |last=Gregoire |first=Paul |date=2021-11-20 |title=Remembering Strathfield, the massacre that changed Australia |url=https://thebigsmoke.com.au/2021/11/20/remembering-strathfield-the-massacre-that-changed-australia/ |work= The Big Smoke|location=Australia |access-date=2025-06-10}}</ref>

At approximately 3:30&nbsp;p.m., apparently without provocation, Frankum pulled a bowie knife from an army surplus duffel bag and turned to the table behind him occupied by two teenage girls, killing 15-year-old Roberta Armstrong by repeatedly stabbing her in the back.<ref name="remembering1991"/><ref name="wilsm">{{Cite news |url=http://newslocal.whereilive.com.au/news/story/strathfield-massacre/ |title=Strathfield Massacre |author=Brenden Hills |date=12 August 2008|work=News Local |publisher=News Community Media |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101150938/http://newslocal.whereilive.com.au/news/story/strathfield-massacre/|archive-date=1 January 2013}}</ref>

Leaving the knife in the body of the girl, he pulled a Chinese-made SKS<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122379020 |title=Gunman held licence for $3 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=65 |issue=20,584 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=21 August 1991|page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> semi-automatic rifle out of his duffel and shot around the café, killing five more people. He then shot the café's owner dead and fled into the main area of the centre, where he killed his last victim.<ref name="thedailytelegraph">{{cite news |url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/strathfield-massacre-how-wade-frankum-killed-seven-and-injured-six-before-turning-gun-on-himself-on-august-17-1991/news-story/0b2dc758349ba16431a2ded805746c3a|title=Strathfield Massacre: How Wade Frankum killed seven and injured six before turning gun on himself on August 17, 1991|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 March 2015}}</ref>

Frankum ran into the rooftop car park and held a car owner at gunpoint, demanding that she take him to Enfield, a nearby suburb.<ref name="wilsm"/> Before the woman could start her car, police began to arrive on the scene with Constable Darren Stewart the first to arrive. He was shot at in his police car by Frankum from the car park rooftop, Stewart had run through the Strathfield shopping centre to engage Frankum, but, upon arriving at the carpark rooftop, Frankum shot numerous rounds into the door leading to the carpark, pinning down Stewart. Upon hearing more approaching sirens, Frankum apologised to the woman and then got out of the car, knelt on the ground, and committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.<ref name="thedailytelegraph"/>

==Victims== Frankum's shooting spree lasted around 10 minutes. He killed seven people and injured six,<ref name="wilsm"/> none of them personally known to him.

Victims:<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122390346 |title=Man 'planned mass murder in a very public place' |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=66 |issue=20,668 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=13 November 1991|page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> {{div col}} *Roberta Armstrong, age 15 *Robertson Kan Hock Voon, age 51 *Patricia Rowe, age 37 *Carole Dickinson, age 47 *Joyce Nixon, age 61 *Rachelle Milburn, age 17 *George Mavris, age 51<ref>(17 August 2011). [http://www.burwoodscene.com.au/2011/08/17/strathfield-massacre-victims-remembered/ Strathfield massacre victims remembered]. burwoodscene.com.au.</ref> {{div col end}} ===Bravery award=== Greg Read, 41, a father of three and Vietnam veteran, was awarded the Star of Courage for saving the lives of eight people during the rampage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Unsung Hero of Strathfield's Massacre Honoured |url=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/zoom/archive/rnews930328_0077_9840|website=www.canberratimes.com.au|access-date=13 June 2016}}</ref>

==Perpetrator== '''Wade John Frankum''', born 23 January 1958, worked at various occupations including as a retail assistant and a taxi driver.<ref name="remembering1991"/> In the apartment where Frankum lived alone,<ref name="nyt">(18 August 1991). [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEEDA173CF93BA2575BC0A967958260 A Masked Gunman Kills 6 at a Mall in Australia], ''The New York Times''</ref> police found a large collection of violent literature and video copies of violent films. One of his books was a well-thumbed copy of ''American Psycho'' and although there is no direct evidence that the controversial novel had inspired Frankum, a number of suggestions that it had done so were made in newspapers.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ellis |first=Bret |editor-last1=Groenewegen |editor-first1=Sarah |editor-last2=Groenewegen |editor-first2=Stephen |title=American Psycho |url=https://www.tabula-rasa.info/BurntToast/Issue10/AmericanPsycho.html |website=Tabula Rasa |location=Australia |access-date=2025-06-10 }}</ref> Frankum also owned a copy of Dostoevsky's ''Crime and Punishment''. Investigators suggested that both his reading and viewing habits contributed to his motivation for the shooting.<ref name="memy">{{cite book |title=Media Mythologies |last=Lowe |first=Barry |year=1995 |publisher=University of New South Wales Press |isbn=0868400068 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHb_VlCXDkwC}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Crime|Australia}} * List of mass shootings in Australia * List of massacres in Australia * List of disasters in Australia by death toll

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== *Milton, R (1993). Profile of a Mass Killer : Wade Frankum at Strathfield Plaza. Blackstone Press, Bondi Junction, NSW. {{ISBN|1-875114-26-2}}.

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080216044406/https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/28/ch4.pdf Mass and Serial Murders in Australia] *[http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/reliving-an-australian-massacre-only-a-few-people-seem-to-remember/news-story/646bc84c1c317654209d116eb7664ba7 Reliving an Australian massacre only a few people seem to remember]

{{Mass shootings in Australia}}

Category:1991 murders in Australia Category:1991 in Sydney Category:1990s mass shootings in Oceania Category:Mass shootings in New South Wales Category:Attacks on shopping malls Category:August 1991 in Australia Category:Deaths by firearm in New South Wales Category:Massacres in 1991 Category:Massacres in Australia Category:Municipality of Strathfield Category:Murder in Sydney Category:Murder–suicides in Australia Category:Spree shootings in Australia Category:Suicides by firearm in Australia Category:20th-century mass murders in Australia Category:Strathfield, New South Wales Category:1990s in New South Wales Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1991 Category:Attacks on commercial buildings in Australia Category:1991 mass shootings