Mark Essex: The New Orleans Sniper
Mark James Robert Essex, known as the New Orleans sniper, led a life marked by transformation, radicalisation, and ultimately, violence. Born on August 12, 1949, in Emporia, Kansas, Essex was the second of five children in a close-knit, religious household. His father, Mark Henry Essex, was a foreman in a meat-packing plant, and his mother, Nellie Essex, worked with disadvantaged preschool-age children. Growing up in a town of 19,000 people with a strong tradition of racial harmony, Essex’s childhood was largely devoid of racial tensions.
Early Life and Influences
Essex was an active and well-liked child. He participated in the Cub Scouts and played the saxophone in his high school band. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, and at one point, aspired to become a minister. Despite being an average student, he excelled in technical subjects and graduated from Emporia High School in 1967. Essex briefly attended Emporia State University before dropping out after one semester and working at the same meat-packing plant as his father. Seeking greater opportunities, he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1969, influenced by his father’s advice to seek vocational training.
Experiences in the Navy
Essex’s initial experience in the Navy was positive. He performed well in training and was apprenticed as a dental technician. However, he soon encountered pervasive racism, which contrasted sharply with his experiences in Emporia. Essex’s letters to his family revealed his growing disillusionment and bitterness toward the racial discrimination he faced. His radicalization accelerated after befriending Rodney Frank, a self-described black militant who introduced Essex to the writings of Black Panther leaders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
Essex’s increasing frustration culminated in a physical altercation with a white non-commissioned officer who made a racist remark. Following this incident, Essex went absent without leave (AWOL) and returned to Emporia. Although his family tried to dissuade him from his growing hatred towards whites, Essex was resolute. After briefly returning to the Navy, Essex received a general discharge for unsuitability in February 1971. This experience further embittered him, leading him deeper into radical ideology.
Radicalisation and Move to New Orleans
Returning to Emporia, Essex began to immerse himself in Black Panther ideology and firearms training. In 1972, he relocated to New Orleans, possibly to reconnect with Rodney Frank. He lived in various places before settling in a two-room apartment in Central City. Essex observed the poverty and racial tensions in the city’s housing projects, which reinforced his radical beliefs. He enrolled in a federally funded program for vending machine repair and took African studies classes, where he memorised African terms and dialects. By mid-1972, Essex was living a solitary existence, battling severe depression, and increasingly focused on his plans for violent retribution.
Motivation and Attack on New Year’s Eve 1972
The catalyst for Essex’s final descent into violence was the shooting of two African American students by police during a demonstration at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Shortly after this incident, Essex penned a letter to his mother in which he wrote: "Africa, this is it, mom. It's even bigger than you and I, even bigger than God. I have now decided that the white man is my enemy. I will fight to gain my manhood or die trying. Love, Jimmy." On Christmas Day, he ate dinner with the family of a fellow student from the TCA program. That evening, Essex phoned his family. He made a specific point of talking to each family member in succession, and conveyed no sense of distress. Over the following days, Essex gave away most of his possessions to acquaintances and neighbors, falsely claiming he intended to return to Emporia.
Days before New Year's Eve, Essex wrote a letter addressed to WWL-TV, signed "Mata", in which he described his intentions to attack the New Orleans Police Department on December 31. He cited the primary justification for his impending attack as being vengeance for the deaths of the "two innocent brothers" killed in the Southern University civil rights demonstration the previous month.
The First Sniping Incident: New Year’s Eve 1972
On New Year's Eve 1972, around 10:55 p.m., Essex parked his vehicle and strolled down Perdido Street, a block away from the NOPD, carrying his Ruger .44-caliber semi-automatic carbine, a .38-caliber revolver, ample ammunition, a gas mask, wire cutters, lighter fluid, matches, and a string of firecrackers all concealed in a green duffel bag. He positioned himself behind parked cars in a dimly lit parking lot across from the bustling central lockup and initiated gunfire towards 19-year-old cadet Bruce Weatherford as he approached the gatehouse for duty.
Weatherford swiftly sought refuge behind a parked car, while his fellow cadet Alfred Harrell ran across the sally port to assist him. Essex then shot Harrell in the chest and accidentally injured Lt. Horace Pérez in the ankle with the same bullet that hit Harrell and ricocheted off a wall. Prior to the attacks, Essex had expressed his intent to target only "honkies."
Following this initial assault with six rounds, Essex fled by scaling a chain link fence and crossing the I-10 expressway, setting off firecrackers as a diversion. He sought refuge in the crime-infested industrial area of Gert Town, where he attempted to break into a building on Euphrosine Street. This break-in triggered an alarm, alerting police, who responded with a K-9 unit led by Officers Edwin Hosli Sr. and Harold Blappert, unaware of the connection to the earlier incident at the central lockup. Essex shot Officer Hosli in the back as he retrieved his German Shepherd from the car, resulting in his death on March 5. Essex then fired at the police car, damaging the windshield, prompting Officer Blappert to call for backup and fire shots at Essex. Over thirty officers arrived at the scene, sending dogs into the building to search for Essex, who had already fled. Blood stains, a discarded Colt .38 revolver, live ammunition rounds, and a bloody handprint on a window sill indicated Essex had sustained a minor injury during the encounter with Blappert.
Despite the police's thorough search of the neighborhood for the sniper(s) and their efforts in conducting house-to-house searches, the culprit managed to evade capture. The search concluded shortly after 9 a.m. on January 1, 1973, due to complaints from local residents regarding the officers' aggressive tactics.
The decision to halt the search for the suspect(s) was made immediately after the police found two strategically placed live rounds aimed at the doors of the 1st New St. Mark Baptist Church (located approximately two blocks away from the Burkart Building).
On January 1 at 9 p.m., the pastor of the 1st New St. Mark Baptist Church discovered a young, armed black male inside the church. The pastor quickly left and sought help from a neighbor, who then called the police. By the time law enforcement arrived, the intruder had already fled. Subsequent investigations revealed that Essex had returned to the church and stayed there until January 3. On January 2, a local grocer named Joseph Perniciaro noticed Essex entering his store, Joe's Grocery, with a bloodstained bandage on his left hand. Perniciaro sold him various items, including food and a razor, and became suspicious of Essex's activities. Perniciaro instructed his stock boy to follow Essex, who was later seen entering the church across the street.
Perniciaro informed the police of these events. When the authorities searched the church on the evening of January 3, they found bloodstains and food wrappings indicating that a wounded person had been staying there temporarily. Additionally, they discovered a bag of .38 caliber cartridges hidden in a bathroom, along with a letter from Essex to the minister apologizing for the break-in.
Essex's whereabouts between January 3 and January 7, 1973, remain unknown. However, a police investigation later concluded that he had not returned to his apartment and was likely hiding in a location near the church.
The Second Sniping Incident: January 7, 1973
On January 7, 1973, at 10:15 a.m., Essex went back to Joe's Grocery and called out to Joseph Perniciaro, demanding his attention by saying, "You! Come here!" When Perniciaro tried to escape, Essex shot him with his .44 Magnum carbine, causing severe injuries. Subsequently, he forcibly took control of a 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle owned by a 30-year-old black man named Marvin Albert, who was parked outside his residence on South White Street. Essex approached Albert, saying,
"Hi brother. Get out of the car. I don't want to kill you, but I'll kill you too!"
Driving Albert's vehicle, Essex arrived at the 17-story Downtown Howard Johnson's Hotel located at 330 Loyola Avenue in New Orleans' Central Business District, opposite City Hall and Orleans Parish Civil District Court. He parked the car on the fourth level of the hotel's garage and tried to unlawfully enter the building through an unlocked door near the fire escape stairs, but found each door locked. While attempting to access the eighth floor using this method, he told two hotel maids, "Let me in, sisters. I've got something to do." The maids refused, citing hotel rules. As Essex proceeded to the ninth floor, the maids saw the rifle he was carrying and rushed to inform the management of the imminent danger.
By gaining entry through a door on the 18th and top floor that was held open with linens, Essex encountered three African American hotel employees. He immediately reassured one of them, saying, "Don't worry, sister. We're only shooting whites today." These employees also alerted the authorities.
In the hallway near room 1829, Essex came across Dr. Robert Steagall, aged 28, who questioned his actions. As Essex raised his rifle, Steagall lunged at him. After a brief struggle that resulted in Steagall being shot in the arm, he was knocked down and fatally shot in the chest. Steagall's 25-year-old wife, Elizabeth, pleaded for her husband's life. As she tried to protect him, Essex shot her in the base of her skull, killing her instantly.
Subsequently, Essex entered the Steagalls' room, doused telephone books with lighter fluid, set them on fire under the curtains, and placed a Pan-African flag next to the couple's bodies before fleeing to an interior stairwell.
On the 11th floor, Essex set more fires in vacant rooms, likely by burning bedding (as the draperies were fire retardant). He also shot and killed the hotel's assistant manager, 62-year-old Frank Schneider, who had gone to the 11th floor to investigate reports of an armed intruder. Just before encountering Essex, Schneider and a porter, Donald Roberts, had left an elevator when a distressed black maid, Beatrice Greenhouse, tried to warn them about the intruder. As they turned to run, Essex shot Schneider in the back of the head, fatally injuring him. Roberts managed to reach a nearby stairwell and called the police from a payphone.
Essex then started another fire on the 11th floor before descending to the 10th floor, where he came across the hotel's general manager, Walter Collins, who was trying to alert guests about the fires. Essex shot and fatally wounded Collins, who instructed a guest to lock her door and call the police before crawling to a stairwell. Collins succumbed to his injuries on January 26.
Police Response
Shortly after 11 a.m., two young patrolmen named Michael Burl and Robert Childress arrived at the hotel in response to initial reports of an armed individual roaming the premises. The two started searching floor by floor. On a lower floor, they encountered Beatrice Greenhouse, who informed them that the perpetrator was on one of the upper floors. In a misjudgment, the two took an elevator to the 18th floor, which stopped near the top due to smoke in the shaft. Around the same time, Essex shot 43-year-old hotel guest and broadcasting executive Robert Beamish in the stomach near the eighth-floor swimming plaza. Beamish fell into the pool but realised he was not severely injured. He stayed in the water for nearly two hours before being rescued.
By 11:20 a.m., numerous police officers and firefighters had gathered at the hotel, and Superintendent Giarrusso had set up a command post on the ground floor. Giarrusso ordered marksmen to take positions around the hotel strategically. Within an hour, he directed a thorough search of each room for the perpetrator. Some firefighters tried to rescue guests who had sought refuge on the hotel balconies to escape both the gunman and the fires he had ignited. Essex hindered emergency responders with his firearm, and conflicting descriptions of his appearance led responders to believe there might be more than one gunman.
One of the initial firefighters to arrive at the hotel, 29-year-old Timothy Ursin, tried to climb to a balcony to rescue guests. He was followed by two patrolmen, one of whom saw Essex shoot Ursin through the shoulder from a balcony. Ursin fell into the arms of one patrolman while the other returned fire at Essex. Ursin survived but lost one arm. As paramedics attended to Ursin in an ambulance, Essex injured 20-year-old driver Christopher Caton with a shot to the back.
Shortly after, patrolman Charles Arnold secured a strategic position with a clear view of the hotel from an office building across the street. While opening a window for a better view, Arnold was hit by a bullet in the jaw, causing him to fall back onto a desk. Arnold applied pressure to his wound with a towel and went to Charity Hospital for treatment. He also survived the injury. Soon after, Essex shot and wounded 33-year-old sheriff's deputy David Munch in the leg and neck while targeting the hotel from the eighth floor of the nearby Rault Center.
At 11:55 a.m., patrolmen Kenneth Solis and David McCann tried to disperse a group of onlookers from a plaza located north of the hotel. As they approached the crowd, walking from under a canopy of trees, Solis was shot in the right shoulder, the bullet passing through beneath his lower rib cage. McCann quickly moved Solis back under the cover of the trees, shielding him from view. As Solis fell, a 43-year-old police officer named Emanuel Palmisano rushed to help but was shot in the arm and back. Hearing Palmisano's calls for aid, 26-year-old patrolman Phillip Coleman drove his patrol car onto the plaza. As Coleman exited the vehicle and opened the rear door to assist Palmisano and Solis to Charity Hospital, Essex fatally shot him in the head.
Essex then made his way down to the fourth-floor parking lot, possibly intending to escape in a stolen vehicle. There, he fired at and missed two police officers guarding the hotel's parking lot. Returning to the 16th floor, he saw 33-year-old traffic officer Paul Persigo trying to guide spectators to safety outside the hotel. Essex fatally shot Persigo in the mouth.Witnesses reported seeing Persigo stumble a few feet before collapsing on the sidewalk. He was declared dead upon arrival at Charity Hospital.
Shortly after noon, Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo led a rescue team of three men to free patrolmen Burl and Childress, who were thought to be stuck in an elevator shaft near the 18th floor. Around 1:07 p.m., while approaching the 16th floor, Sirgo and his team heard what they believed to be a police whistle coming from that floor. Assuming it was the trapped patrolmen, the group continued upwards. As Sirgo reached the final corner of the staircase, Essex shot him at close range in the chest, hitting his spine and causing him to fall back onto his colleagues. Essex then fled towards the hotel roof. Sirgo was pronounced dead upon arrival at Charity Hospital.
Final Standoff and Death
At around 2 p.m., Essex, after using up his supply of firecrackers and ammunition, sought refuge in a concrete cubicle on the southeast side of the hotel roof. Throughout the next few hours, he fired multiple shots at a CH-46 military helicopter flown by Lt. Colonel Charles Pitman, a pilot in the United States Marine Corps, who had arrived at the scene without prior authorization to aid the police in their efforts to neutralize the sniper(s). Pitman initially landed the helicopter near the hotel, allowing five police sharpshooters to board. The helicopter then conducted several strafe runs over the hotel roof, with Pitman expressing his desire to at least graze Essex with a ricochet, although it remains unclear if Essex sustained any injuries during these encounters. Each time Pitman flew away to reload, Essex retaliated by firing at the helicopter.
Initially, Superintendent Giarrusso hesitated to expose more officers to the danger of injury or death by sending them to the hotel roof. His plan was to keep the sniper confined in the cubicle to wear down his resolve. After several hours, as a final attempt to convince Essex to surrender, Giarrusso instructed a black police officer to communicate with Essex using a battery-operated bullhorn. The officer tried to persuade Essex to surrender for a few minutes, concluding with the words: "What do you say, brother? Why not save yourself? Give up before it's too late. If you're injured, we can provide medical assistance." In response, Essex shouted, "Power to the people!"
Despite the officer's plea to surrender peacefully, Essex refused to say anything else.
Shortly before 9 p.m., following nearly seven hours inside the cubicle, Essex suddenly emerged with his rifle lowered and his right fist raised, yelling "Come and get me!" before being shot almost immediately by police sharpshooters positioned on nearby rooftops. As the military helicopter approached for another strafing run, it also fired numerous rounds at Essex. The impact of the bullets propelled his body upwards before he fell on his back about twenty feet away from the cubicle, failing to harm any additional officers in his final act. The gunfire continued for almost four minutes, resulting in over 200 gunshot wounds discovered during the autopsy.
An examination of Essex's rifle revealed he had only two bullets left when he charged out of the cubicle, suggesting his final action might have been a symbolic suicide.
Due to conflicting reports regarding the presence of additional snipers, it took twenty-eight hours from the start of Essex's siege at the hotel for the police to confirm no other attackers were present at the scene. Ballistic tests on Essex's rifle confirmed it was the same weapon used in the shootings at the NOPD central lockup and Burkart Manufacturing Building on December 31.
Mark Essex’s transformation from a “happy go lucky” young man to a radicalised sniper reflects the profound impact of systemic racism and personal experiences of discrimination. His attacks on New Year’s Eve 1972 and January 7, 1973, resulted in the deaths of nine people, including five police officers, and left many more wounded. Essex’s story is a stark reminder of the destructive potential of racial hatred and the dire consequences of societal failures to address systemic injustices.
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