Will Reynolds
William Reynolds was an African American railroad worker who fatally shot seven people, including a sheriff and three deputies, and injured two other members of the Colbert County Sheriff's Department in Tuscumbia, Alabama, United States on April 6, 1902, following an attempted arrest on a warrant for fraud.
After killing his arresting officer, a prolonged stand-off ensued between Reynolds and law enforcement, who were later assisted by a white civilian posse, engaging Reynolds in several shootouts and attempting to firebomb his location. Over the following hours, three additional police officers and three posse member were killed or fatally wounded while attempting to apprehend or kill Reynolds. Following the arrival of the National Guard, fire was set to the neighborhood in an effort to force Reynolds out, destroying several other houses. Reynolds was killed by the posse while fleeing the scene.
The shooting, known as the Will Reynolds Incident, is considered a precursor to modern mass shootings, along with the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre and the 1900 police shootings by Robert Charles, though the 1903 Winfield massacre is generally regarded as the first mass shooting by motivation. It remained the deadliest mass shooting and mass murder in Alabama's history until the Geneva County spree killings over a century later.
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