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Where'd They Get Their Guns?

An Analysis of the Firearms Used in High-Profile Shootings, 1963 to 2001

Date: March 20, 2000

Location: Mi-T-Fine Car Wash, Irving, Texas

Alleged Shooter: Robert Wayne Harris

People Killed: Five

People Injured: One

Firearm(s): 9mm pistol


Circumstances

According to Harris's confession, he went to the Mi-T-Fine Car Wash to try to get his job back and a fight broke out when the manager refused to rehire him. According to Octavio Ramos, the only survivor of the shootings, Harris forced him to kneel on his knees and then shot him in the back of the head. Five people were killed and Ramos was wounded. Harris was convicted of capital murder on September 26, 2000, and sentenced to death by lethal injection.


How Firearm(s) Acquired

The handgun was illegal. Police did not reveal how Harris acquired the pistol, but Harris had three felony convictions for burglary, so he was prohibited from possessing firearms.

 
  1. Tim Wyatt, "Harris' Violent Past Detailed in Trial Testimony; Records Go Back to Grade School," Dallas Morning News, 28 September 2000, sec. A, p. 1.
  2. "Death Sentence Issued in Texas Car Wash Murders," United Press International, 29 September 2000.
  3. Matt Curry, "Former Car Wash Employee Found Guilty on Two Counts of Capital Murder," Associated Press, 27 September 2000.

 

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 All contents � 2001 Violence Policy Center

 


The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.