The Nation - News from June 16, 1988

Police in Winnetka, Ill., following a twisted trail left by Laurie Dann, who shot a boy to death and wounded six people--five of them schoolchildren--before taking her own life in a May 20 rampage, said she acted alone and not as the result of drug use. In a report issued by a task force of officials from Winnetka and 10 other law enforcement agencies, investigators said: “In all instances, Laurie Dann acted independently after a period of significant premeditation.” Dann, 30, began planning a spree of violence, during which she also sent 26 packages of arsenic-tainted food and juice to locations in three states, early this year, police said. At least five people were hospitalized after consuming the spiked treats but none were seriously injured. Although authorities piled up evidence, they said that Dann’s precise motive for shooting the children at the elementary school and leaving the poisoned food may never be known.