April 24, 1987 – CBS World News Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
April 24, 1987 – a violent day, by all reports. Beginning with news from the community of Palm Bay Florida where a gunman went on a rampage and calmly walked into a shopping mall at dusk and started shooting. When the gunman was finally captured – 60 year old Palm Bay resident William Cruse had shot and killed 6 and injured 15. The shooting started in the crowded parking lot of Palm Bay Shopping Mall and the rampage continued as Cruse shot his way into a supermarket, where he took hostages. After 8 hours, Cruse gave the hostages up before he was flushed out by police and taken into custody. Described as “the angriest man on the block”, Cruse had a meltdown caused by kids playing on his lawn.
And in Bridgeport Connecticut, a high-rise apartment building under construction collapsed, sending tons of concrete and steel falling and killing some 9 construction workers. At news time there were still 19 missing and hopes were turning desperate as rescue workers combed through rubble searching for the missing workers, but being careful not to trigger a further collapse. Many hoped that within protected spaces, pockets within the ruins, and within those spaces there might be survivors. But as rescuers worked all night and continued bringing bodies out from the wreckage, hopes were starting to fade.
And elsewhere in the world – talks over the elimination of medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe by the U.S. and the Soviet Union were slated to get underway within days. Earlier in the day, the house approved two measures attempting to reverse President Reagan‘s policies on Nuclear Testing and SALT-II missile limits. House Republicans raged that the Arms control provisions would hamper efforts in Geneva to reach a new agreement. Newt Gingrich accused Democrats of “giving away the store”. Democrats accused Republicans of preserving the Cold War atmosphere and that the arms control provisions were a “blow for sanity”.
And that’s a small piece of what went on this April 24, 1987 as presented by The CBS World News Roundup.
