1976: Son of Sam Claims His First Victim in the Bronx
Just after 1 a.m. on July 29, 1976, David Berkowitz approached a parked car in the Pelham Bay neighbourhood of the Bronx and opened fire with a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver. Donna Lauria, 18, was killed instantly by a single bullet. Her companion Jody Valenti, 19, survived a gunshot wound to the thigh. It was the first in a series of shootings that would terrorise New York City for over a year. Berkowitz, who came to be known as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, ultimately killed six people and wounded eleven before a parking ticket led investigators to his door. Arrested in August 1977, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received six concurrent life sentences.
