Starburst Lounge shooting
| 1980 El Paso shooting | |
|---|---|
El Paso El Paso (Texas) El Paso El Paso (the United States) | |
| Location | 31°45′33″N 106°29′19″W / 31.75917°N 106.48861°W 5030 Fairbanks Drive, El Paso, Texas, United States |
| Date | February 3, 1980 ~1:45 a.m. (MDT) |
Attack type | Mass shooting, Mass murder |
| Weapons | .22-caliber Marlin Model 60 semi-automatic rifle[1] |
| Deaths | 5 |
| Injured | 3 |
| Perpetrator | Barry Chvarak |
| Motive | Thrill killing |
On February 3, 1980, a mass shooting occurred at the Starburst Lounge bar in El Paso, Texas. 21-year-old Barry Chvarak, armed with a .22-caliber Marlin Model 60 semi-automatic rifle, killed five and injured three others before being arrested.[1] The victims were Randy Steele, 20, Kathleen Austin, 32, Marianne Laweka, 53, Jana Carpenter, 29 and Fredrick[2] Bergford, 28. In July 1980, Chvarak pleaded guilty to the crime.[3] He was then sentenced to five consecutive life sentences.[4][5]
It was the deadliest mass shooting in El Paso County until the 2019 El Paso shooting.[6]
See also
- 2019 El Paso shooting
- 1984 Dallas nightclub shooting
- List of massacres in the United States
- List of mass shootings in the United States
- List of shootings in Texas
References
- ^ a b "A Story of Mass Violence". kxan.com.
- ^ "Fredrick James Bergford - Ancestry®". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved February 3, 2026.
- ^ Ruiz, Rick (July 8, 1980). "Murderer pleads guilty, gets 5 life terms". El Paso Times. Newspapers.com. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
- ^ "Starburst Lounge mass shooting killed five in 1987 in El Paso bar". El Paso Times. February 11, 2020.
- ^ "1980 Northeast El Paso shooting stands as one of Texas' first mass murders". ktsm.com. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
- ^ "Two mass shootings in one Texas town, decades apart". everythinglubbock.com. Retrieved November 18, 2019.