A person who kills a number of people at one particular time and location in a frenzied, random, and apparently unpremeditated way.
the last three spree killers in Britain all held legal gun licenses
Example sentencesExamples
The sniper terrorizing suburban Washington, D.C. has alternately been referred to in the press as a serial killer and a spree killer.
Well, I want to say, Larry, first of all, this is what makes him a serial killer and not a spree killer, first of all.
A spree killer, as I say, is usually directional, and he may go through an area just shooting people, anybody who he can find as he is moving along and doesn't really know the area at all.
He has interviewed spree killers, he is chairman of the Forensic Panel and developer of the depravity scale, an effort to provide a standard forensic definition of evil.
He's a spree killer, a mass killer or serial killer.
Derivatives
spree killing
noun
Beginning with a spree killing, the Lakota attacked settlers along the Minnesota River and murdered several hundred whites.
Example sentencesExamples
In the aftermath of a spree killing at an Australian diner, forensic psychologist Dr. Jane Halifax is called in to profile the murderer.
But, here, I don't see this as a spree killing, Larry.
Whether there will be another spree killing in Britain is a matter of chance.
Two weeks ago, when it first started, it had all the makings of a classic spree killing.