1947-
Subway Gunman

A Vigilante in the Making.

Bernhard Hugo Goetz Jr. was born on 7 November 1947 in New York City. He enjoyed a seemingly carefree existence as a child, but behind the veneer he suffered at the hands of a dictatorial father, a "real Prussian disciplinarian," according to an aunt. Vari-ous people and former classmates who knew him over the years related the impression that he was a bookworm, but one who at times seemed to be under a lot of pressure. As an adult in New York City, he had been the victim of a mugging by three black youths in 1981 in which he was injured. This appears to have been the impetus for his later actions.