The List: The World’s Worst Shooting Rampages

Uiryong, South Korea

Casualties: 56 killed; 37 wounded

Date: April 26-27, 1982

What happened: Enraged when his live-in girlfriend woke him up from a nap by swatting a fly against his chest, Woo Bom Kon, a 26-year-old South Korean policeman, tanked up on booze and launched an eight-hour shooting spree across several farming villages 170 miles outside of Seoul. Evidently thirsty, he at one point ordered a local youth to pick him up a soft drink, and then shot him and his family. Woo finally blew himself up in a farmhouse, along with several hostages. His girlfriend, who was lightly wounded during the rampage, described Woo as having been a little eccentric.

Weapons of choice: Two carbine rifles and seven grenades pilfered from police stocks

Aftermath: South Koreas home minister resigned, and a number of local police officials were suspended for negligence.

Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia

Date: April 28, 1996

Casualties: 35 killed; 18 wounded

What happened: Martin Bryant, a 28-year-old surfer with a history of mental problems, shot dead 35 people at Tasmanias premier tourist attraction, a colonial-era penal colony. The killer first opened fire in the crowded cafe before moving on to the parking lot and a nearby road, where he shot at passing cars and pedestrians. Bryant was eventually captured alive after holing himself up in a local guesthouse; he emerged only when he caught himself on fire while trying to burn the place down. Bryant, who laughed as he admitted his guilt in court, is currently serving 35 life sentences without parole.

Weapons of choice: AR-15 and FN semiautomatic rifles

Aftermath: Australias federal and state governments banned assault rifles and combat shotguns.

Bogot, Colombia

Date: December 4, 1986

Casualties: 30 killed; 12 wounded

What happened: Campo Elas Delgado, a 52-year-old Vietnam vet and fan of the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, shot and burned his mother and knifed or shot seven other people en route to dinner at an upscale Italian restaurant, where he downed vodka along with his meal. After polishing off dessert, he calmly stood up, removed his gun from his bag, and opened fire, killing or fatally wounding 22 people and injuring another dozen before the police shot him dead.

Weapon of choice: .38-caliber revolver, knife

Aftermath: The restaurant, only mildly popular before the murders, was thereafter jammed every night, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Hebron, the West Bank

Casualties: at least 29 killed; an estimated 150 wounded

Date: February 25, 1994 (during the Jewish holiday of Purim and the Muslim holiday of Ramadan)

What happened: Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a 37-year-old Jewish settler from Brooklyn and devotee of the radical Rabbi Meir Kahane, emptied 3 clips into a crowd of several hundred Arab worshippers in a mosque in the Cave of the Patriarch, held by three religions to be the burial place of Abraham. Goldstein, who wore his military reservist uniform for the assault, was beaten to death with iron bars by the crowd.

Weapons of choice: Galil automatic rifle, an Israeli version of the Russian AK-47

Aftermath: The Israeli government immediately condemned the shootings, but violent riots followed in Palestinian areas, leading to more deaths, and the massacrethe work of a lone gunman, according to an Israeli government inquirynearly derailed the Middle East peace process.

Kaio, Japan

Date: May 21, 1938

Casualties: 29 killed; three wounded

What happened: Mutsuo Toi, a 21-year-old from a wealthy family, had been shunned by women and rejected from military service for having tuberculosis. Finally one night, he snapped. He cut the electricity to his village, bound two flashlights to his head, and shot or stabbed nearly half of the small community over the course of 90 minutes before then shooting himself at dawn. Before embarking on his rampage, he decapitated his grandmother with an ax.

Weapons of choice: Browning shotgun purchased legally, ax, samurai sword

Aftermath: Toi left notes complaining of being ostracized for his disease. His bizarre attack has inspired at least four books, several films, and at least one play. Until 1982, his rampage was known as the worlds worst massacre by a single individual.

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