Allaway’s Victims Honored

A candlelight vigil at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday drew more than 100 people to remember the victims of Orange County’s deadliest mass murder.

Their message: no release for Edward Charles Allaway, the man who shot seven people to death in the basement of the campus library 25 years ago and has been in mental hospitals since.

“In my opinion, he should have been put to death 25 years ago,” said county Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who helped organize the event. “Allaway has no right to be released. When he took those lives, he gave up his rights.”

Chris Norby, a Fullerton City Council member who spoke at the rally, agreed. “When someone has done something this heinous,” he said, “the scales of justice really demand that they pay a price, and that price shouldn’t include freedom.”

Allaway, now 62, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the July 12, 1976, incident in which he carried a .22-caliber rifle into the university library and shot nine people, killing seven. A patient at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, he has made three previous bids for freedom, all turned down by Orange County judges.

Recently, however, some of Allaway’s doctors at the hospital have concluded that he is cured and is fit for release. On Friday, a judge in Orange County Superior Court is expected to rule on how the case will proceed, possibly setting a date for a sanity hearing.

A recent letter from the hospital said, “The clinical staff are of the opinion that Mr. Allaway would no longer be a danger to the health and safety of others, including himself, while under supervision and treatment in the community.”

Many speakers at Wednesday’s vigil, including several relatives of the victims, strongly disagreed.

“I feel very adamant that he never be freed,” said Pat Almazan, whose father, Frank G. Teplansky, died in the rampage.

Teplansky’s name, with those of the other victims, is engraved on a plaque in Memorial Grove, a cluster of pines planted near the library in 1978 to commemorate the victims. It was rededicated Wednesday as a lone bagpiper played.

“Allaway slaughtered seven human beings,” Almazan said. “He should never walk the streets, never see the light of day. Setting a mass murderer free sets a very dangerous precedent.”

Paul Paulsen, brother of victim Deborah D. Paulsen, said that, if Allaway were to be released, “I have great fear and concerns for the innocent community. Allaway was, is and will always be a paranoid schizophrenic with violent tendencies. This could happen again.”