Mellberg Survivors Bring Suits Air Force Faces Claims From 29 Victims

The anniversary of Spokane’s worst mass murder will pass quietly today at Fairchild Air Force Base, where two years ago a deranged former airman turned a hospital complex into a killing field.

In U.S. District Court in Spokane, however, action is only beginning. The number of lawsuits is rapidly increasing as more of Dean Mellberg’s victims charge the federal government with negligence, leaving them with psychological trauma, injuries and death. Many of the victims still are recovering from their wounds.

The Air Force currently faces claims from 29 victims, totalling $160 million, a base spokesman said.

As those claims are denied, Mellberg’s victims take the next step: filing suit.

As of Wednesday, 11 lawsuits had been filed by people wounded or traumatized by the shooting spree, or family members of those killed in the hail of bullets from Mellberg’s semi-automatic assault rifle.

Some, like Marlene Moe and her daughters, Melissa and Kelly, are suing for damages of $5 million each. The Moes were waiting for a prescription to be filled in the pharmacy when Mellberg entered the hospital; each was wounded by bullets from Mellberg’s gun.

Others, like Tiffany Williams, are seeking unspecified damages. Williams was a patient of Capt. Alan London, a base psychologist who had recommended Mellberg’s discharge. When the ousted airman returned to wreak his vengeance on London and base psychiatrist Maj. Tom Brigham, Williams was in London’s office; she saw him being shot.

Williams said in her lawsuit she called 911 and tried to save London’s life until she was forced to leave by base security officers. She didn’t learn he had died until the next day. The suit said she has suffered “serious mental, emotional and psychological damages” as a result of Mellberg’s actions.

Mellberg killed four people and wounded 22 on that June afternoon in 1994 before he himself was killed by a Fairchild security policeman. One of the wounded, Michelle Sigman, was pregnant and her unborn daughter, Taylor McKenzie, died as a result of Sigman’s wounds.

The victims named in lawsuits thus far include small children, like Anthony and Janessa Zucchetto, who were also waiting in the pharmacy when Mellberg opened fire. Both underwent extensive surgery for their injuries.

There are retirees like Ruth Gerken, who was in a hospital waiting room, and was shot in both legs.

In most cases, the victims’ lawyers present the same claims, including:

That the Air Force was negligent for failing to recognize Mellberg’s mental problems early in his career.

That once Brigham and London diagnosed him as being dangerous in the fall of 1993, the Air Force was negligent for returning him to duty at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, rather than discharging him into a treatment program.

That once he failed at his assignment at Cannon, Mellberg was discharged without a treatment program and given an identification card allowing him to access to any base. Fairchild officials were not warned that he was discharged.

That Fairchild officials had the responsibility to operate a safe hospital facility, but the complex was outside the security gates.

Federal attorneys have already asked that some lawsuits be dismissed because all of the decisions involving Mellberg and the hospital were within the scope of military command decisions protected by federal law.

Dismissing the claims on such grounds would allow the federal government to avoid its responsibility and be “a horrible injustice to the persons killed and injured by this madman,” argued Spokane attorney Joseph Blumel, who represents Lorraine Murray. The Spokane woman was struck in the ankle by a bullet and injured her hip and shoulder when she dived for cover.

Eight lawsuits, involving 13 people, were filed this week and others are expected soon because the statute of limitations to file claims against the government expires today.

Federal attorneys are under orders from U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush to deny new claims quickly to allow the cases to come to trial.

A U.S. Justice Department official said a total of 25 have been rejected in the last two months.

The other four, which have been filed with the Judge Advocate General’s Office at Fairchild, apparently have not yet been processed by the Department, the official said.

Quackenbush will hold a hearing on the lawsuits next month.

, DataTimes