Inmate on death row for fatal 1992 divorce-court shooting rampage dies of natural causes
Kenneth Baumruk wasn’t able to overturn his death sentence for fatally shooting his wife and firing at the judge, lawyers for both sides and others in the vicinity of a Missouri divorce court hearing more than 20 years ago.
But the former aerospace technician has avoided capital punishment by dying of natural causes in prison at age 75, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Baumruk smuggled two .38 caliber handguns into the St. Louis County Courthouse, which had no security checkpoint at the time, in a briefcase on May 5, 1992. During a court hearing, he suddenly opened fire on his estranged wife, Mary Baumruk, killing her with two shots to the neck. He then shot at opposing attorney W. Scott Pollard; his own counsel, Garry Seltzer; and the presiding judge, recounts a 2012 en banc Missouri Supreme Court opinion (PDF) upholding Baumruk’s conviction and capital sentence.
After the judge escaped through a door behind the bench, Baumruk exited into a second-floor hallway of the Clayton courthouse. As he searched for the judge, he shot a bailiff and a security guard and fired at two police officers and a prosecutor’s investigator, the opinion says.
At one point, an elevator door opened onto the second floor and Post-Dispatch court reporter William Lhotka found himself face-to-face with Baumruk, the newspaper reports. Lhotka, who spread out his arms to keep others from exiting the car, credited his relatively casual attire with saving his life, because he didn’t look like a lawyer.
As additional officers converged on Baumruk, he shot at one and missed. They returned fire, hitting him with nine shots, twice in the head. Questions about whether Baumruk was competent to stand trial delayed the murder case for years afterward, and an initial conviction was overturned because the trial was held in the same courthouse in which the shooting occurred.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Death Sentence Upheld in ‘92 Court Murder; Judge, 2 Lawyers, 5 Others Also Targeted in Shooting”
