Allaway Withdraws Request for Release

A former janitor who went on a shooting rampage that killed seven people at Cal State Fullerton 22 years ago has withdrawn a request to be released from a mental institution, where he was committed after a judge declared him innocent by reason of insanity, a prosecutor said Friday.

The request, which was set for a hearing Monday, had marked the first time that Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County recommended that Ed Allaway, 59, be transferred to an outpatient program, which essentially would have released him. But officials of an outpatient treatment program with jurisdiction over Allaway disagreed, and attorney John Bovee withdrew the request one working day before the hearing was scheduled.

“He didn’t think [the case] was going well,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Guy Ormes, whose office had opposed the request.

Bovee could not be reached for comment Friday. In an earlier interview, he said his client has been a model inmate and was ready for an outpatient program, which would have allowed him such activities as holding a job. Allaway is entitled to an annual request for a hearing to determine whether he is ready for release.

In what was Orange County’s worst mass killing, Allaway took a .22-caliber rifle to the university’s library on July 12, 1976, and shot to death two other custodians, a photographer, a retired professor, a library assistant, a graphic artist and an audio technician. Two others were wounded.

On that summer morning, Allaway entered the building through a side door, descended a flight of stairs to the basement and walked from office to office, shooting some people and sparing others, witnesses testified at his trial. He chased two custodians, Debbie Paulsen and Donald Karges, down a hall and shot them. Bruce Jacobson, the audio technician, was shot at point-blank range after hitting Allaway on the head with a metal statue.

Allaway then gunned down professor emeritus Seth Fessenden, photographer Paul F. Herzberg, graphic artist Frank Teplansky and library assistant Stephen Becker, the son of Ernest A. Becker, one of the university’s founders.

Allaway, in previous interviews, has said that although he is aware that the shooting spree occurred, he cannot remember pulling the trigger. A former Baptist Sunday school teacher, Allaway said he went crazy because co-workers had taunted him about pornographic movies. He also was offended by the obscene graffiti and homosexual activities he encountered on campus, he said.

He last sought release in 1995. In that hearing, a judge was not convinced that Allaway was no longer a danger to society and denied his request.