Frederick Cowan

Case record: Frederick Cowan

Overview

Frederick William Cowan, also known as “Reinhard,” conducted a shooting spree at the Neptune Worldwide Moving Company. He shot 10 people; five died on the spot and a sixth person died weeks later. After a long siege in which police encircled the company, Cowan committed suicide by shooting himself.

The shooting spree at Neptune Worldwide Moving Company

Cowan invaded the office-warehouse complex of the Neptune Worldwide Moving Company. Employees reported that the rampage began shortly before 8 A.M., and that Cowan arrived at about 7:45 A.M. with a gun and went into the Neptune offices.

Cowan shot and killed company employees in the lobby, hallway, and cafeteria areas, then moved upstairs to the second floor where he continued shooting. Police officers responding to the incident were shot as Cowan fired from a second-floor window.

Victims and injuries

Cowan killed multiple employees and a police officer, and he wounded other police officers and employees during the incident.

Employees killed (five on the spot, one later)

The first victims identified as killed included:

• Joseph Hicks, 60, of 11 Park Avenue, Mount Vernon (black), a company employee
• Frederick Holmes, 55, of 871 East 219 th street, the Bronx (black), a company employee
• James Green, 45 (black), of 616 Lincoln Avenue, Mount Vernon (company mover), shot in the back while turning to run

Cowan also shot and killed:

• Pariyarathu Varghese, 32, an electrician, of 80 Guion Place, New Rochelle, who moved to the United States last November and began work with Neptune only last week
• Officer Allen McLeod, 29, a New Rochelle police officer, who was killed on the spot after being shot from a second-floor window

One additional person was wounded during the shooting and died later:

• Joseph Russo, 24, was hit in the stomach and chest in the cafeteria and died weeks later from his wounds

Employees wounded

The record identified wounded employees including:

• Robert Harris, who sustained an eye wound that did not require hospitalization
• Joseph Russo, 24, who was critically wounded in the abdomen and survived the day before dying weeks later

Other employees described being threatened at gunpoint before being allowed to flee:

• Ronald Cowell, 39

Additional threatened or hidden employees were described during the siege:

• At least two other employees were threatened before being allowed to flee, according to Police Commissioner William Hagerty

Police officers killed and wounded

The record identified:

• Officer Allen McLeod, 29, was shot and killed
• Officer Raymond Satiro suffered a leg wound
• Officer John Fitzgibbon sustained a hand wound; he was released after treatment at New Rochelle Hospital
• Lieut. Vincent Fontanarosa was wounded in the arm; he was released after treatment at New Rochelle Hospital

Weaponry and siege

Cowan was described as carrying a German-made, semi-automatic, 308-caliber assault rifle and four handguns, including a .45-caliber pistol. Police described him as wearing a military field jacket and green pants, with bandoliers of ammunition around his waist and over his shoulders. Authorities also described tinted windows that prevented police from seeing into the office where Cowan was located.

Police stated they were unsure whether employees were being held hostage; the record described 14 employees hiding inside the building, and one employee trapped all day in a second floor bathroom.

Police used sharpshooters, helicopters, an armored personnel carrier (APC), and a hostage-negotiating team from the New York City Police Department. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state policemen also participated.

The record also stated that no assault was carried out while uncertainty existed about whether employees were being held. Police barricades kept crowds back, and reinforcements arrived throughout the day.

Communications with police

Cowan made telephone contact with the New Rochelle police command post.

At about noon, Cowan called and demanded food, asking for “a potato salad” and hot chocolate. He stated that he was “not going to hurt anyone at this point” and that he “get very mean when I’m hungry.” He apologized for the incident and asked that apologies be conveyed to the Mayor.

Later in the siege, an attempt to communicate did not result in surrender; his mother pleaded for him to surrender and expressed fear that he had “gone crazy.” The record also stated that his parents and two brothers were brought to the scene to persuade him, but he did not surrender.

A loudspeaker was used on the armored personnel carrier to address him. The record stated that police were repeatedly given a telephone number to call.

Time markers and chronology

Timeline

• 7:45 A.M. — Cowan arrived at Neptune Worldwide Moving Company and took weapons out of his car
• Shortly before 8 A.M. — Cowan invaded the office-warehouse complex; the first shots were fired
• About 8:15 A.M. — Officer Allen McLeod arrived among the first responding officers and was killed by a bullet fired from a second-floor window
• About noon — Cowan telephoned the police command post and requested food; police discussed concerns about people hiding in the building
• About 2:15 P.M. — Sal DeBello emerged from the building unharmed, and police learned about another employee, William Hill, hiding in a second floor bathroom
• About 2:40 P.M. — A single shot rang out from inside the building; it was described as the shot used to kill himself
• Several hours later — Police moved onto the second floor and found Cowan dead of a single head wound
• 5:40 P.M. — Sgt. Bill Augustoni reported that the perpetrator was dead
• 6:00 P.M. — Cowan was officially pronounced dead by the City Physician
• 8 P.M. — Cowan’s body was taken away from the scene

Background on Cowan and prior history

Cowan was described as a 33-year-old gunman in one account and as 250 pounds and 6-foot tall in descriptions during the siege. The narrative described him as:

• a twice court-martialed Army veteran
• a weightlifter who appeared as a model in body-building magazines
• a suspended worker at Neptune who had collected Nazi paraphernalia and idolized Adolf Hitler
• known to acquaintances as a gun collector with fascination for the Nazi period

Education and early life details

The record described Cowan’s schooling and early life:

• Born June 1, 1943 in New Rochelle
• Attended Blessed Sacrament Elementary School and graduated in 1957
• Attended Stepinac High School in White Plains, where he played on the football team
• Enrolled in Villanova College for Engineering
• Dropped out in 1962
• Later joined the Army

A teacher said:

“You were glad to have him in your room. He had neat handwriting and always had his work done on time” (Roddy, Keefe and Kavanaugh, p. A3).

Cowan used the name “Reinhard” after a Nazi figure.

Military court-martial and discharge

The record stated Cowan had trouble while stationed in Germany:

• He lifted up a Volkswagen car and turned it over
• He smashed up the car with his bare hands
• He was sent to the stockade after a court martial

The record also stated that the following year he left the scene of a car accident in Germany and was threatened with jail time. He received a general discharge and was sent back to the States in March of 1965.

Suspension and the supervisor Norman Bing

Cowan had been suspended by supervisor Norman Bing.

• The record stated the suspension occurred two weeks before the shootings
• The record described the suspension as being for being rude to customers and returning vowing to “get even” with a supervisor who had disciplined him
• Another description said the suspension had been for refusing an order to move a refrigerator
• Cowan was scheduled to resume work on the expiration of his suspension by Norman Bing, and he did not show up the previous date mentioned in the record

A separate witness account described Bing’s view:

• Bing had refused an order to move a refrigerator and suspended Cowan

A quoted statement attributed to Bing in the record included:

“If I hadn’t walked out of my office, he would have gotten me. I heard the shots and I knew he was after me, he made that clear” (Thomas, p. 28 2/16).

Nazi memorabilia and hateful statements

The record stated that Cowan collected Nazi memorabilia, including WWII helmets, swords, guns, swastika flags, Gestapo posters, and Nazi flags and regalia. It also stated that his room and attire included Nazi-themed items.

In a book later found in his room, Cowan had written:

“There is nothing lower than black and Jewish people unless it's the police who protect them.”

The record stated that the book was found by authorities in his attic bedroom/room and that the line appeared as a handwritten quote.

The record also included earlier written or described principles from a membership card:

• A membership card for the National State’s Rights Party was found in Cowan’s pocket
• The reverse side listed principles including “A free white America, Racial Separation, Expulsion of All Jews and Confiscation of ill-gotten Jewish Wealth.”
• The card slogan read “Honor, Pride, Fight-Save the White.”

Additionally, the record described Cowan’s writings and ideas as including:

“Nothing is lower than black and Jewish people except the police who protect them” (McLaughlin, Peter, p.3).

Comments and quotations from others

The record contained multiple quotations attributed to named individuals and described events.

Police and officials

New Rochelle Police Commissioner William Hagerty said:

“We are trying to initiate negotiations.”

Mayor Vincent Rippa told reporters at the scene:

Commissioner Hagerty also said:

“We have tried telephone communications. We have tried speaking through air-conditioning conducts. We have tried direct personal communications. So far we have been unable to communicate.”

The record included Commissioner Hegarty’s emphasis about prevention and laws:

“This kind of act can never be prevented in this kind of society, where people are protected by the Constitution and a variety of laws” (Feron, p. B6).

Employees and witnesses

One employee, Clynt Wynent, said:

“He got them point blank. They weren’t moving. They looked dead.”

Another employee, Ronald Cowell, said:

“I had one foot out the door, and I was staring at the muzzle of the rifle he was carrying.”

Ronald Cowell continued:

“I started saying, ‘Please,’ and he said: ‘Go home and tell my mother not to come down to Neptune.’ I didn’t look back, I just kept on running.”

A witness described a response to Cowan’s shooting:

“He just started shooting and everybody started running all over the place,” said one employee who fled.

An employee said:

“He walked in, and everybody started screaming and running. It was just mayhem.”

Ed Miller said:

“People were screaming and everyone was either seeking shelter or bolting out the doors. When I saw bodies on the floor in the office, I ducked under a desk with another worker. We cowered there expecting the worst” (O’Toole, p. A2).

Cowan’s telephone call to police

Police Lieutenant Tom Perotti said:

“Hello?”
“Who the hell is this?”

The quoted voice demand was:

“Just drop it off at the door!”

Cowan also said:

“I get mean when I’m hungry!”

Perotti asked about delivery, and Cowan said:

“All I want is the food and I’m not going to hurt anybody at this point.”

Cowan added:

“Tell the mayor I’m sorry for causing all this trouble”

When Perotti tried to keep him on the phone, Cowan said:

“Just get the goddamn food!”

and then hung up.

A quote attributed to Cowan described his statement about mean behavior when hungry:

“I'm not going to hurt anyone at this point. I get very mean when I'm hungry.”

Mother’s comment

Cowan’s mother told a friend:

“Pray for Freddie,”
“He’s gone crazy.”

Sgt. Bill Augustoni reporting

Sgt. Bill Augustoni reported over the radio:

“The perpetrator is dead”

Detective Robert Harris remarks

The record quoted Detective Robert Harris:

“I had visions of Viet Nam. The windshield was blown out. I thought I burned out the tranny ‘cause I shifted so hard. I backed that car up right through a plate glass window of an electronics store,”

He also said:

“I wanted him alive”
“We wanted some answers, some meaning to what he did and why he became that way.”

Investigation and police response

Police cordoned off Weyman Avenue around the Neptune complex and set up sharpshooters on nearby roofs. They established a command post next door at a grocery supply warehouse.

Police also borrowed delivery trucks from the Schaefer grocery company to get officers and wounded personnel out of the line of fire. Police pursued search-and-rescue and evacuation of employees hiding in the building, while preventing any rescue parties from being exposed to gunfire.

The record described a search team including FBI agents and New Rochelle police who cleared the first floor using automatic weapons and shotguns. The team found employees hiding under desks and located the bodies of Hicks and Holmes together in a first floor hallway.

Aftermath and funerals

The record described:

• A funeral for Police Officer Allen McLeod on Thursday, February 17
• More than 4,000 police attended the funeral
• Officer McLeod was laid to rest in the City of White Plains
• Police plaques at the police station memorializing officers who died in the line of duty
• That Joseph Russo, 24, who was shot in the cafeteria on February 14, died at New Rochelle hospital of his wounds six weeks later

The record also included long-term effects:

• P.O. Fitzgibbons retired as a result of his wounds at the warehouse
• P.O. Satiro was promoted to Sergeant but suffered continually from leg pain and died in 1997 while jogging
• P.O. Schraud was severely injured when he fell down a flight of steps while chasing a burglary suspect in 1986 and was forced to retire
• Sgt. Bill Augustoni died in the mid-eighties of cancer
• Detective Robert Harris retired safely in 1989
• Officer Juliano was in his 28th year as a police officer in the City of New Rochelle

The Neptune Worldwide Moving Company shut its doors during the early 80s, and Commissioner William Hegarty later became police commissioner of Flint, Michigan.

Additional materials and findings in Cowan’s home

After Cowan’s death, police executed a search warrant at his home on Woodbury Street and found Nazi mementos, including Nazi bayonets, WWII helmets, Nazi flags and belt buckles, Adolf Hitler posters, Nazi books and literature, and SS items.

The record stated police found in the attic:

• eleven cans of gunpowder
• shotgun shells, primers, and equipment to make bullets
• three antique muskets and one rifle
• shell casings
• thousands of rounds of ammunition
• one machete and at least 20 knives
• eight Nazi bayonets
• military helmets from World War II
• five posters of Adolf Hitler
• dozens of Nazi books, literature, and many SS items, along with flags and belt buckles

A metal belt buckle found among his belongings had words engraved on it:

“I will give up my gun when they pry my cold dead fingers from around it!”

Membership in a racist political organization

The record stated police believed Cowan was a member of the National Sates Rights Party and that the group was militant and racist, encouraging the use of uniforms among members. It described the group as founded in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1958 and based in Marietta, Georgia in 1977. It also stated the group used a lightning bolt image as its logo and published a newsletter called “The Thunderbolt.” Copies of the newsletter were found in Cowan’s apartment.

The record described the thunderbolt as the emblem of Hitler’s youth organizations in Germany during the 1930s.

Legal and outcome status

Cowan did not face trial or sentencing because he died by suicide after the police siege ended with his death.