
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993                   TAG: 9307030281
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Medium

GUNMAN HAD ARSENAL, HIT LIST AND A GRUDGE

When Gian Luigi Ferri strolled into the 34th-floor law offices of Pettit & Martin, he had three guns beneath his suit jacket and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in a briefcase strapped to a dolly.

He reportedly also carried a list of 50 potential victims - and a grudge.

Without saying a word, police said, Ferri opened fire. For roughly 15 minutes on Thursday afternoon, as lawyers, secretaries and visitors ducked for cover, Ferri went down five floors of the 48-story building, shooting.

Ferri killed eight people and wounded six before police closed in on him in a stairwell. After making eye contact with the officers, he put one gun to his chin and pulled the trigger, killing himself.

On Friday, bouquets of flowers lay outside the main revolving doors of the building at 101 California St. A recorded telephone message at Pettit & Martin said the firm would be closed until Tuesday; it didn't mention the bloodbath.

Police wouldn't discuss a possible motive, but two newspapers reported that Ferri, 55, was avenging a bad business deal.

Ferri was president of ADF Mortgage and Realty in Woodland Hills and was embroiled in a lawsuit in which Pettit & Martin represented his opponents, the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner reported Friday.

Ferri was convinced he was about to lose the dispute and be "cheated out of $300,000," one source told the Examiner. Details of the dispute and the identity of Ferri's legal opponents weren't immediately available. A partner in the firm told reporters Thursday he saw the man in the offices earlier that day giving a deposition.

Police wouldn't confirm Ferri's name because they had not yet contacted his family Ferri and because they found more than one driver license on his body with slightly different names, said San Francisco Coronor Boyd Stevens.

Mayor Frank Jordan identified him as Gian Luigi Ferri. Department of Motor Vehicle records in Sacramento list his name as Gianluigi Ettore Ferri.

Some of the victims were on a list of 50 names he carried with him, according to the newspapers. Police refused to comment on the note, saying it was being analyzed in a laboratory.

Six of his victims were found dead inside the building. Two others died at San Francisco General Hospital. The bodies were found on the 34th, 33rd and 31st floors, police spokesman Dave Ambrose said.

Ferri purchased two TEC-9 pistols earlier this year in the Las Vegas area, one on April 25 at Nellis Super Pawn and the other May 9 at Pacific Tactical Weapons, according to Marjorie Love of the Las Vegas Metro Police. It wasn't immediately known if those were the guns used in the shooting. A Nevada weapons background check indicated Ferri had no criminal history.

Keywords:
FATLITY

by CNB