George Banks, once among the most notorious mass murderers in US history, died Sunday (November 2) at age 83 while serving a life sentence at Phoenix State Prison in Pennsylvania. He succumbed to complications from kidney cancer, according to state prison officials.

1982 Wilkes-Barre massacre

Banks’ name became synonymous with one of America’s deadliest family massacres after he killed 13 people — including five of his own children — during a rampage in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on September 25, 1982. Using an AR-15 rifle, Banks went on a shooting spree that claimed the lives of his children, their mothers, and several bystanders. Only one teenager survived.

The motive

Defense lawyers argued that Banks was insane during the killings. After his arrest, the biracial former prison guard

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