disgruntled clients

John Luigi Ferri, 55, killed eight people and wounded six others before committing suicide at an office building at 101 California St. in San Francisco on July 1, 1993. Apparently dissatisfied with the legal services he had received from the law firm that represented him, he entered their offices on the 34th floor of 101 California Street at 2:57 PM and within 4 minutes had killed 8 people and wounded 6. He then is reported to have killed himself.

May 1, 1996

CHICAGO - A disgruntled client shot and killed his attorney in a downtown office building, and then critically wounded himself, police said Tuesday.

The dead attorney was identified as Raymond Goldfarb, 59, a partner in a major Chicago law firm.

Police Lt. Terry McMahon said Goldfarb, who lived in suburban Buffalo Grove, was shot three or four times in the chest and was pronounced dead on the scene.

The client, later identified as Martin Muteff, 67, shot himself once in the head and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, McMahon said. Muteff was reported in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery.

According to court files, Goldfarb's firm had been representing Muteff in a dispute over a $51,000 loan to two other Chicago businessmen,

June 15, 1996

SAN PEDRO, Honduras - A public defender was shot and killed by an unknown assailant June 18 in a Sula restaurant. The Honduran Commission on Human Rights said Merlene Zepeda's assassin may be tied to the military-controlled national police. She had recently been threatened by a gang of bank robbers because she failed to win acquittal of an armed-forces employee accused of several San Pedro Sula assaults.

March 26, 1997

LAGUNA HILLS, California - Police today are trying to determine the identity and motive of a man who walked into a Tustin law office and shot a divorce attorney before taking his own life. The attorney was identified as 61-year-old Ron Weiss of Laguna Hills. Tustin police received several 911 calls reporting the shooting at the offices at 250 El Camino Real. When officers arrived, they found two men dead from gunshot wounds. Police say the suspect fired several shots -- killing Weiss -- then turned the gun on himself. Police believe Weiss may have handled a divorce case involving the suspect or the suspect's wife.

July 23, 1997

DAYTON, Tenn. -- J.D. Creason was supposed to be in court this week for a divorce hearing. Instead, he is in jail after shooting J. McKenzie, the lawyer representing his estranged wife.

According to witnesses, Creason stepped from behind a tree near the corner of Market Street and Third Avenue and opened fire with a .45-caliber automatic. He hit McKenzie seven times.

Creason "was definitely trying to kill Mr. McKenzie," said an investigator with the Dayton Police Department.

July 30, 1997

MIAMI -- A 66 year old lawyer was hospitalized after he was tortured and shot by a man described as a former client, who stormed into R. Spiegelman's office this afternoon and took the lawyer hostage. Police say the client, who had engaged Spiegelman 10 years ago for a lawsuit, took the lawyer into a room and tortured him with a stun gun. Then, he pulled out a gun, shot the lawyer in the leg, and shot himself. Spiegelman says he's baffled by the incident, telling police that while the man kept mumbling about how Spiegelman had ruined his life, the lawyer had actually won the case, getting a substantial settlement for the man. The suspect's gunshot wound was fatal. The lawyer will be fine and has already been released

March, 1998

NEW BEDFORD -- Minutes after he had been greeted with "You (expletive) sleazeball," divorce lawyer K. Ainsworth was attacked by one of his clients' ex-husbands. Mr. N. Ledoux silently approached Mr. Ainsworth from behind and locked him into a bearhug. The two men fell to the floor and court officers broke up the fight and handed Mr. Ledoux over to police. Mr. Ledoux smirked silently as police escorted him out of the courtroom.

LAWYER ATTACKED WITH HAMMER

March 7, 1998

PORDENONE, Italy - The lawyer for a Marine investigated in a U.S. jet's accidental downing of a ski gondola was bludgeoned to death Friday outside her office.

Pordenone's chief police official, Raffaele Daniele, said there was no indication the attack was linked to the cable car accident. All 20 people aboard the gondola died Feb. 3 when a low-flying Marine jet severed its cable.

The lawyer, Francesca Trombino, represents Lt. Col. Richard Muegge, head of the jet's squadron.

The AGI news agency reported that Friday's attack stemmed from the alleged attacker's divorce case. Police took a suspect into custody.

Daniele said a man armed with a hammer repeatedly hit the 43-year-old Trombino in the head when she arrived at her office in this small town in northeastern Italy. She died hours later.

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 22 - Police in San Antonio say they are looking for a 52-year-old man suspected of shooting a lawyer in his office during a dispute over a probate case.

Witnesses told reporters and police they heard a loud argument in the office of probate attorney F.Deyeso today that was punctuated by gunshots.

Deyeso was shot in the chest and ear and rushed to a local hospital where he was listed in critical condition.

April 1, 1998

PHILADELPHIA - A teen-ager is being questioned by homicide detectives in connection with the February double-murder of Center City lawyer C. F. Love and his assistant. Love, 59, and B.Barry, 21, were found slain in a storage room in Love's office on Spruce Street near 10th. Love was shot once in the back of the head. Barry was shot once in his left temple. A cord was wrapped around Barry's hands and feet. Their bodies were discovered by a neighbor who entered the office, saw the bodies and ran into the street and flagged down a police officer. Investigators theorized that the slayings were committed by a disgruntled client. Love was described as a successful lawyer who handled many personal-injury and worker's-compensation cases. Barry was a musician who aspired to be a lawyer and was engaged to Love's stepdaughter.

April 21, 1998

MEXICO - The defense attorney for Gen. Gutierrez Rebollo, who is serving a 13 year sentence for weapons violations, was gunned down by unknown gunmen in Guadalajara.

October 27, 1998

ANCHORAGE - A 69-year-old woman, apparently upset with her insurance company, shot the lawyer representing the company. Gisela Lindblom, after waiting patiently for attorney Robert Griffen to return to his office, hobbled in to his private office supporting herself with her two canes and then blasted away with a concealed handgun. Griffen, miraculously, was not seriously injured. Lindblom was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder. A 69-year-old woman, apparently upset with her insurance company, shot the lawyer representing the company. Gisela Lindblom, after waiting patiently for attorney Robert Griffen to return to his office, hobbled in to his private office supporting herself with her two canes and then blasted away with a concealed handgun. Griffen, miraculously, was not seriously injured. Lindblom was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Feb. 17, 1999

MUMBAI, India -- Well-known criminal lawyer Kishore Sutrale was shot dead by an unidentified gunman of the Chhota Shakeel gang in his ground-floor office at Ramkrishna Apartments near Babhai Naka, Borivli, late on Tuesday night.

Sutrale, 41, was sitting in his office with three of his clients at around 11:20 pm, when the gunman opened the window behind the lawyer's swivel chair and fired at him from close range. Sutrale was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

According to police, Sutrale had earlier expressed the suspicion that Raju Bhatkar, subsequently detained for questioning, had been threatening him. Bhatkar had recently been released from jail, having served a sentence he had hired Sutrale to help him avoid. Evidently Bhatkar felt that he had been inadequately represented.

March 12, 1999

MEXICO CITY -- The brazen slaying of a lawyer on a city street this week is the latest in a wave of deadly violence which has politicians in northern Mexico clamoring for stiffer action against drug traffickers.

A gunman shot Abel Lizarraga six times in the head as the lawyer was walking in front of the state government headquarters in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa state, at midday Wednesday.

His death raised the number of slayings in Sinaloa this year to 117. Lizarraga previously had defended suspected drug traffickers including a group of men who were subsequently sent to prison.

March 19, 1999

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- A gunman, upset over being cut out of $100,000 worth of stock in his ex-wife's will days before she died, shot the lawyer who made the change and one of the lawyer's clients.

John D. Goodin, 81, was shot in the head Thursday and died a short time later at a hospital. A 35-year-old man who simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time. was shot in the chest and died instantly.

About an hour after the shooting, Walter V. Shell, 71, turned himself in to police. Shell was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and was being held without bond.

Shell had been designated the executor of the estate of his former wife, Katie Roselle Shell. But five days before she died on Nov. 9, Goodin visited her in the hospital and amended the will, cutting Shell out.

March 19, 1999

FARGO -- William Gary Pretzer, 55, is accused of beating a 77-year-old lawyer, George Duis, to death. If convicted, Pretzer faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Duis' body was found by firefighters and police in his burning residence at the Universal Building, 510 4th Ave. N. on March 20, around midnight. Shortly after, Pretzer was arrested on an unrelated charge.

Police were looking for Pretzer after a downtown hotel manager reported seeing him carrying a handgun. Officers took cash and Duis' wallet and watch from Pretzer, whose shirt was stained with blood.

He had been a tenant of Duis' and worked as his maintenance man. Duis also defended Pretzer on criminal charges last year.

August 14, 1999

SANTA FE, N.M. - Carlos Vigil, 52, a defense attorney known for taking cases no other lawyer would take, was shot, according to witnesses, by a gunman driving a pickup truck with a loud muffler, as he was walking to the courthouse.

Police reportedly were looking for a former client against whom Vigil had filed a harassment complaint. Vigil had represented the man in a case in which he had been charged with assault on a police officer and possession of marijuana.