Murder of Pete Shrum
| Murder of Pete Shrum | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of security camera footage recording the murder, on March 27, 1993 | |
| Location | Mesquite, Texas, U.S. |
| Date | March 27, 1993 |
| Target | Texan clerk |
| Weapons | Firearm |
| Deaths | 1 |
| Victims | Pete Shrum |
| Assailants | Anthony Bernard Hampton, Wayne Hampton |
In the late hours of the evening on Saturday, March 27, 1993, in Mesquite, Texas, at approximately 11:20 p.m., convenience store clerk, Pete Shrum, was shot and killed by two armed robbers. Shrum cooperated with the robber's demands and made no attempt to fight back against them. Despite his cooperation, the robbers murdered him in cold blood. The horrifying crime was all captured on camera by two security cameras installed in the store. The footage is extremely graphic and very difficult to watch. Footage of the murder received wide publicity at the time of the crime and was shown on television to help identify the killers.[1] Since then, the footage has been featured in many documentaries relating to crime. The murder was shown on both Real TV and Banned from Television. It was also shown on CBS Evening News, in a segment called Eye On America, on November 9, 1993. Shrum's son Greg was also interviewed on the program about the murder of his father.[2]
The murder
On a normal Saturday night on March 27, 1993, sixty-one-year-old, Arthur Virgil "Pete" Shrum Jr., a convenience store clerk, attended to customers at the Diamond Shamrock gas station where he worked at, in Mesquite, Texas. At around 11:20 p.m. Shrum attended to an elderly lady who was buying gas for her car. She had forgotten her purse however and didn't have enough money to pay the fee. Because of this, she returned to her car outside to get her other purse, so she could pay for the gas. During this time, the store was empty, apart from Shrum. Another customer, twenty-two-year-old, Wayne Hampton, then entered the store and engaged in a casual conversation with Shrum. Unbeknownst to Shrum, this conversation was simply a diversion in order to distract him. Outside by the front door of the store, Wayne's accomplice and younger uncle, eighteen-year-old, Anthony Bernard Hampton, nicknamed Elmo, waited with a handgun. While Wayne was in conversation with Shrum, Anthony entered the store and snuck up to the side of Shrum. He then drew his handgun and ordered Shrum to hand over any money in the cash register. Shrum cooperated and opened the register, but there was little money left in there, a total of only eighteen dollars.[3] Because of this, Anthony fired three shots at point-blank range. Shrum was hit and fell down to the floor. Wayne and Anthony took the eighteen dollars from the cash register, along with a dispenser full of lottery tickets, and fled the store in a hurry. The elderly lady returned as the robbers exited the store. She was shot at by Anthony and received a bullet graze to the shoulder but survived the injury. Shrum didn't die straight away, but tragically he slowly succumbed to his injuries. The horrific sound of the death rattle, as Shrum begins to die, can be heard in the security footage that recorded the murder, making the footage all the more graphic and horrifying to watch.[4]
The victim
| Pete Shrum | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Arthur Virgil Shrum, Jr June 28, 1931 Wise County, Texas, U.S. |
| Died |
March 27, 1993 (aged 61) Mesquite, Texas, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds to the abdomen |
| Body discovered | March 27, 1993 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Convenience store clerk, former Sergeant of the United States Army |
| Children | 3 |
Arthur Virgil "Pete" Shrum, Jr. (June 28, 1931 – March 27, 1993)[5] was a former Sergeant of the U.S. army who served in Korea during the Korean War. In his later years he worked as a clerk at a Diamond Shamrock gas station in Mesquite, Texas. On March 27, 1993, Shrum was robbed at gunpoint. He was then shot and murdered in cold blood despite cooperating with the robber's demands. The entire incident was captured on two security cameras installed in the store, which sadly filmed his own death. Shrum was survived by his wife and three children. His wife passed away in 2003.[6]
Aftermath
Tragically, footage of the horrifying crime was all caught on two security cameras installed within the store. The cameras filmed the murder in black and white with full functioning audio from inside the store. The horrific sound of the death rattle can be heard in the recording making the footage all the more graphic. Despite this, the security cameras helped identify the two killers quickly. Two days after the murder on March 29, 1993, television stations in Texas broadcast the footage of the crime in hope that members of the public would be able to help identify the killers. Police received several tips from viewers and began following up leads. One viewer recognized Anthony's face in the recording, because he had worked with him at a Garland trampoline factory for about three months.[7] Police continued tracking the suspects and started interviewing their relatives. A day later, both men were picked up on murder charges. Each of them gave written confessions and surrendered to the police without incident. Several of the Hampton's family members lied to investigators about the men's whereabouts and were to face criminal charges. Anthony Hampton confessed that his reason for murdering Shrum was because of his frustration over how there was so little money in the cash register, and also because Shrum had seen his face. Both men were unaware that they were being filmed.[8]
The elderly woman, who was the only witness to the crime, was shot at by the robbers during their getaway. She received a bullet graze to the shoulder, but survived. She returned to the store once the robbers had fled and found Shrum dying. Understandably, she was in a complete state of shock and left the store in panic. She was interviewed about the crime on the television documentary, Real TV, and described the horrifying ordeal she went through. She was friends with Shrum and was a regular customer at the store. Footage of the crime was shown on Real TV, as well as CBS Evening News, and the 1998 shockumentary film, Banned from Television. The latter however, mistakenly reported that the crime occurred in Plano, Texas, as opposed to Mesquite, Texas, where it actually occurred.[9]
Anthony's mother, thirty-four-year-old, Annie Mae Hampton, recounted to a jury how her son became involved in crime and claimed she lost control over him. She gave birth to him when she was only sixteen. In court she tearfully recounted her fruitless attempts to help her son. She wanted help but claimed she received very little assistance.
Anthony Bernard Hampton, and his nephew, Wayne Hampton, were both sentenced to life in prison for the horrible crime. They were spared the death penalty, despite prosecutors urging for it and calling in witnesses to influence the jury to call for it. They were sentenced to spend the remainder of their lives in jail and are to never be released. Prior to the murder of Pete Shrum, the duo were responsible for a number of armed robberies in the Dallas area, two of which happened the same week as Shrum's murder. Surviving store clerks who had been robbed by the Hampton's testified at their trials.[10] Both men are incarcerated in the Texas State Prison System, in separate facilities.[11]
See also
References
- ↑ "The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "CBS Evening News for Tuesday, Nov 09, 1993"
- ↑ "Archives - The Dallas Morning News, dallasnews.com". newsbank.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "LiveLeak.com - Convenience Store Clerk Killed In Robbery(Shocking)". liveleak.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Sgt A V "Pete" Shrum, Jr (1931 - 1993) - Find A Grave Memorial". findagrave.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Mary Ann Keown Shrum (1931 - 2003) - Find A Grave Memorial". findagrave.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Archives - The Dallas Morning News, dallasnews.com". newsbank.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Two Charged in Videotaped Slaying". apnewsarchive.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Real TV Episode Guide (1996-2001) Hosted by John Daly and Ahmad Rashad". tripod.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Anthony Bernard Hampton". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Wayne Hampton". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 23 April 2016.