7 Deadly Days

They are the commonplace tragedies that occur every day in communities across the U.S. The smoldering anger between a husband and wife ignites and ends with a pistol shot. The suffocating weight of depression vanishes, with gunfire, into the imagined peace of death. A hunting trip turns tragic, and a family is destroyed. The stupidity of playing with a loaded weapon leaves a young boy dead. The momentary incivility of a pair of barroom brawlers results in bloody death.

Events like these happen so often that Americans' sense of horror and outrage has been numbed. Death by gunfire has become nearly as banal in the U.S. as auto fatalities; shootings are so routine that they are sometimes ignored by the local news. Only by coming face to face with the needless victims does the wastefulness sink in.

And while the country is numb, the families and friends the dead leave behind are surely not. At any one time, the nation harbors a large tribe of those crying and struggling with the loss a gun has caused.

The 464 people whose deaths are cited in these 28 pages are victims of an American epidemic: they were all shot in a single week, from May 1 to 7. This year more than 30,000 others will share their fate.

If the U.S. were losing this many people to a killer virus or to a war, there would be a public outcry. Yet more Americans die of gunshot wounds every two years than have died to date of AIDS. Similarly, guns take more American lives in two years than did the entire Viet Nam War. Only automobile accidents (total deaths per year: 48,700) surpass shootings as the leading cause of injury-induced fatalities. But while auto safety is a continuing public preoccupation, most Americans seem inexplicably indifferent to guns or unwilling to do much about them.

Deaths by guns tend to be isolated, infrequent in any one community and seemingly random in their dispersion. The inanimate numbers, no matter how often they are repeated, cannot convey the heartbreaking stories that lurk within them. To attach faces to the statistics and find out where and how so many die, TIME has attempted to record every gunshot death in the U.S. in one full week. The victims on the following pages range in age from 2 to 87; they are black and white, Asian and Hispanic; they represent 42 states. The portraits are arranged day by day, and in alphabetical order by the state in which the shootings occurred. The information about the deaths comes from various official sources -- police and coroners -- and in some cases from families of the victims.

The pattern in these 464 deaths is depressingly clear: guns most often kill the people who own them or people whom the owners know well. Despite the outcry over street gangs and drug dealers, the week's homicides typically involved people who loved, or hated, each other -- spouses, relatives or close acquaintances. Only 14 deaths were in self-defense. Just 13 involved law- enforcement officers; no on-duty police officer was killed during the week. And despite the current controversy over military-style assault rifles, most of the killing took place with ordinary pistols, shotguns and hunting rifles.

Instead of highlighting mayhem on the streets, the week of May 1 through 7 was a chronicle of private despair. The victims were frequently those most vulnerable in society: the poor, the young, the abandoned, the ill and the elderly. The most common single cause of death was suicide. People in the grip of despondency or disease who turned their weapons on themselves accounted for 216 deaths, nearly half the total; compounding the tragedy, nine suicides turned their rage outward, first killing someone else, including spouses or other relatives. Another 22 deaths were preventable accidents, often the result of a thoughtless few seconds of play with a supposedly unloaded firearm.

Even when a shooting involved a deadly collision of strangers, the provocation was only occasionally a dispute over drugs or gangland territory. Equally prevalent were fights at bars, robbery attempts and random shootings with no apparent intention to kill. In many instances, the fact that a gun was readily at hand at a critical moment produced what Karole Avila, a psychiatrist at Detroit Receiving Hospital, has called a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

It is of little comfort that, statistically, the situation has actually improved slightly in this decade. While gunshot deaths have roughly doubled since 1938, they dropped from 14.8 per 100,000 population in 1980 to 13.7 in 1986, the last year for which complete figures are available. One important reason is that the baby boomers are getting older, and the most probable criminal offenders are those between 18 and 24. Better emergency medical + treatment is also keeping more victims alive: five times as many people are wounded as are killed by gunshots.

Some will continue to argue that it is people, not guns, who kill people. But the pervasiveness of gun ownership in America -- one in every other household -- is relevant. A gun assault is far more likely to prove fatal than an attack with a knife. Suicide by gun is more certain to succeed than by other methods. Many of the 464 people who died in that first week of May would still be alive today were it not for the convenient presence of a gun.

It is not easy to look at the faces on the following pages. There are anger and disgust at the brutality, sorrow for the young lives snuffed out, pity and sympathy for those who could find no other way to lift the burdens of life.

But in the end, there is a sense of embarrassment, even shame. How can America think of itself as a civilized society when day after day the bodies pile up amid the primitive crackle of gunfire across the land?

DEATH BY GUN AMERICA'S TOLL IN ONE TYPICAL WEEK: 464

During the week of May 1-7, eight states reported no deaths: Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. California had 68 gun deaths; Texas, 44; Florida, 40; New York, 30; Georgia, 24; Michigan, 21; Illinois, 18; Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, 15 apiece; Louisiana, 13; Colorado, 12; Maryland and Washington, 11 each. New Jersey's total of nine gun deaths includes four shootings reported after this portfolio had been completed.

MONDAY, MAY 1 Evelyn Wiggins, 44 Birmingham, Ala. The mother of four, she was killed with a shotgun by her husband after an argument in their home. He was charged with murder.

Jehovah Atkins Jr., 40 Butler County, Ala. His common-law wife shot him in the neck. She claimed he had approached her with a shotgun. She was charged with murder.

William Bowden Jr., 56 Tuscaloosa, Ala. After a dispute with his estranged wife, he wounded her and then turned the gun on himself.

Steven Allen Powell, 24 Globe, Ariz. He bought a shotgun in the morning and killed himself with it shortly thereafter.

Walter Butler, 70 Antelope Valley, Calif. Despondent about his failing health, he shot himself with a handgun.

Narvelle Johnson, 20 Fontana, Calif. He was in a parked car with a friend when he suddenly pointed a pistol at his head and pulled the trigger.

Steve Koo, 37, and Leonard Williams, 21 Gardena, Calif. Koo and Williams shot each other as Williams was attempting to rob Koo's convenience store. Williams died in the store's parking lot; Koo died the next day of gunshot wounds.

Lamont Campbell, 22 Los Angeles, Calif. He was shot with a handgun. Police, who have listed this case as a homicide, have no further information.

Jonathan Schnare, 18 Rohnert Park, Calif. The high school senior used a rifle to kill himself in his family's home.

Jay Venable, 45 Sacramento, Calif. He was a maintenance man for a land developer. A drug user, he shot himself with a pistol at his home.

Richard Aniva, 18 San Francisco, Calif. Lamed by an auto accident, he was unable to flee when another youth shot at a group in a schoolyard following an argument.

Javier Evangelista, 22, and Jose Nambo, 20 Santa Ana, Calif. They were were standing together on the sidewalk; both were shot in a drive-by attack that police believe was gang related.

Silfred Medina, 25 Saguache County, Colo. A farmworker, he fatally stabbed a woman he had met at a bar, wounded her daughter, 12, and assaulted another daughter, 8. Then he shot himself with a rifle.

Alvin Henson, 38 District of Columbia Found in an apartment at 1:16 a.m. with gunshot wounds, he died shortly afterward in a hospital. Police say the slaying was drug related.

Larry Tyson, 52 Dade County, Fla. Suffering from diabetes, the former securities-firm manager killed himself with a handgun. He and his wife had cared for 150 foster sons.

Marion Williams, 42 Deland, Fla. An acquaintance walked up to him and shot him in the face with a revolver. The two had fought the previous night.

Nestor Leon, 40 Hialeah, Fla. A barroom argument moved outside. Leon, a Mariel boat-lift refugee, was shot in self-defense, according to police.

Eileen Vandersloot, 62 North Port, Fla. | A widow with health problems, she was found dead in the bathroom of her home, a revolver next to her.

Caroline Harnage, 75 Wellborn, Fla. Depressed about the possibility of moving to a nursing home, she shot herself with a pistol in her car outside her mobile home.

Benjamin Kelley III, 31 Atlanta, Ga. A clerk at a convenience store, he was shot in the head during a robbery around 4 a.m.

Patrick Kappus, 41, and Emma Kappus, 15, Brunswick, Ga. The father, a deaf-mute, and his daughter were shot with a semi-automatic pistol in a shed behind their home at about 5:30 a.m.; $1,000 that belonged to Mr. Kappus was missing. A brother of Mrs. Kappus (she is also a deaf-mute) was being sought on murder and robbery charges.

Ruth Pearson, 52 Powder Springs, Ga. She was found dead of handgun wounds at 3:45 p.m. in the produce market she and her husband owned. The store had been robbed.

Alex McCullough, 31 Chicago, Ill. He and a brother-in-law apparently quarreled over some narcotics. He was shot by his relative, who was charged with murder.

Jennifer Ulrich, 14 Bardstown, Ky. Despondent over what the coroner called ''boy trouble,'' she shot herself with her father's pistol in their home.

Edwin Green, 40 Big Clifty, Ky. The former school-bus driver was found dead in his home. Police said he shot himself with a revolver.

Mark Suchy, 19, and Leroy Suchy, 23 Clinton, Me. The Suchy brothers loved cars, rock music, hunting and guns. That day they bought a new .44-cal. revolver. Joined by two friends, they tried it out on targets in their backyard in rural Maine. Afterward they gathered around the kitchen table. Leroy, supposing the others had emptied the pistol, playfully pointed it at Mark and pulled the trigger. To his horror, the revolver fired a bullet into Mark's chest. The two friends fled. A stunned Leroy called for help. Before the police ambulance arrived, Leroy realized his brother was dead. He returned to the backyard and shot himself in the head.

Allan Burke Jr., 16 Bel Air, Md. He was found dead at home by his father, a retired Army colonel. The boy had used his father's revolver to kill himself.

Ernest Chase, 31 Seat Pleasant, Md. He broke into a house, ransacked it and beat the 78-year-old owner. The intruder was shot by the man's stepson, who drew a handgun from under a chair cushion.

Michael Jamison, 37 Detroit, Mich. He had had a dispute with his girlfriend. She was visiting his home about 1 p.m. when she heard a shot and found that he had killed himself.

Johnnie Thomas, 42 Detroit, Mich. The father of six, Thomas was shot several dozen times by an attacker with an assault rifle. Police suspect the shooting was drug related.

James Warren, 21 Detroit, Mich. He and a friend argued on a sidewalk with a group of teenagers. When the two walked away, both were shot. The friend survived.

KaSandra Woodfin, 37 Detroit, Mich. She and her boyfriend argued at her home shortly before ^ 1 a.m. He shot her with a revolver.

Russell Markham, 55 Farmington Hills, Michigan The former automotive electrician killed himself with a shotgun in the driveway of his home.

Martin W. Anderson, 73 Hart Township, Mich. A lifelong bachelor who suffered from arthritis and depression, he shot himself with a pistol in his home.

M.L. Hathorn, 61 Muskegon, Mich. He and his blind wife Elizabeth, 59, returned to their home at 2 a.m., surprising an intruder. She was knocked down. He was stabbed and shot.

Bruce Clark Douglas, 44 Edina, Minn. The attorney was found in his office at 6:35 a.m., shot in the chest with a .357-cal. Magnum. The medical examiner has ruled it a suicide.

Gregory Hansen, 20 Gulfport, Miss. A college student, he shot himself with a revolver. His body was found in his car near his home.

Christopher Epps, 20 Jackson, Miss. His girlfriend watched helplessly as he shot himself with a derringer in his apartment. He was unemployed.

Steve Lawrence, 25 Hempstead, N.Y. He was among 15 young men attacked in the hallway of an apartment building by a gunman who burst through a door and opened fire. Police suspect the killing was drug related.

Darlene Murphy, 30, and William Murphy, 28 St. Louis, Mo. She argued with her married boyfriend. As her eleven-year-old son watched, the man shot her. The boy shouted for help. When Darlene's brother William arrived, he too was shot and killed.

James Lee, 26 Fayetteville, N.C. An employee at a junkyard, he was shot in a dispute at the Gay Paree, a local after-hours club.

Earl Frye, 52 Elyria, Ohio Frye, who was unemployed, went upstairs to take a nap. Moments later, his live-in girlfriend heard a gunshot and found him lying on the floor beside a .22-cal. rifle.

Tawanah Jean Griggs, 17 Bartlesville, Okla. She was killed with a shotgun in her home by a 20-year-old cousin, who claimed it was an accident. He was charged with second-degree murder.

Barbara Sheppard, 37 Grove, Okla. She picked up a shotgun in her home at 11 p.m. and killed herself. She was unemployed.

Lori Hollingsworth, 28 Oklahoma City, Okla. The unemployed woman was sitting in her car at 12:15 a.m. when she shot herself in the head with a handgun.

Kimberly Moyer, 24 Allegheny Township, Pennsylvania A former part-time policewoman, she lived with her parents and worked hard at two jobs. Despondent, she shot herself with a .357-cal. Magnum.

Larry Duncan, 29 Philadelphia, Pa. He complained about the quality of cocaine to a drug dealer on a street corner at 2:30 a.m. The seller shot him.

Anthony Beltran, 23 North Smithfield, R.I. + A woman friend playfully aimed his automatic handgun at him in a motel room, then pulled the trigger. She did not know the gun was loaded. She was charged with manslaughter.

Robert C. Maynard, 56 Darlington, S.C. He pulled a pistol while arguing with his common-law wife, then attacked her with a clothes hanger. She seized the gun and shot him.

Leslie Montgomery, 24 Chattanooga, Tenn. He was found shot to death in the street about 11:15 p.m., the apparent victim of a dispute over drugs. A suspect was arrested.

Mitchell Smith, 82, Chattanooga, Tenn. He used a handgun to kill himself in his apartment.

Perry McAfee, 45, Decaturville, Tenn. He was killed with a shotgun in the housing project where he lived. Police described it as a ''possible homicide.''

Linda Adebanjo, 35 Dallas, Texas A mother of six, she argued with her estranged husband outside her home. He killed her with a .38-cal. revolver.

Edward Hinckley, 67 Dallas, Texas He shot himself with a Browning automatic, leaving a note that complained of his long struggle with heart disease.

Luis Alberto Torregrosa 54, Dallas, Texas The artist and sometime filmmaker died in the street of wounds from a handgun in an apparent suicide. A friend reports he had been ill and was worried about money.

John Trent, 87 Garland, Texas His ailing wife had moved to a nursing home. Missing her and worried about her, he killed himself with a shotgun.

Jerome Walter Claus, 28 Houston, Texas The former sound engineer was suffering from depression. He shot himself outside his home with a pistol.

Darrell Parker, 21 Houston, Texas He had joined a companion who was harassing a woman outside her home. The woman's husband came out of the house and fired his shotgun once into the darkened yard, killing Parker.

Jacqueline Price, 18 Marshall, Texas A high school student active in her church, she killed herself on the day after she turned 18. A suicide note gave no reason.

Alex Bustard Lacy III, 24 Plano, Texas The former systems-engineering librarian had a history of depression. Intoxicated, he shot himself in the head with a rifle at 1:56 a.m.

Dennis Carter, 17 Miller Creek, Utah The troubled youth rode his bicycle into the country, nearly a mile from home, then killed himself with a shotgun.

Sylvia Contreras, 26, and Juan Valencia, 33 Yakima, Wash. After nine years of violence and abuse from her common-law husband, Sylvia Contreras had fled their house after yet another beating. Juan Valencia, a farmworker, begged for a reconciliation when she returned to fetch their three children. After she refused, he was heard to say, ''If you're not going to live with me, you're not going to live at all.'' She ran out of the house. He chased her into the yard, his .22 rifle in hand. Neighbors watched helplessly as he shot her repeatedly in the chest. Then he turned the weapon on himself, ending his rage, his remorse and his life.

Jack Barnett, 24 Salt Lake City, Utah He suffered from worsening cystic fibrosis. After writing two farewell notes, he killed himself with a handgun.

Clayton Fisk, 56 Wilder, Vt. A bank employee suffering from cancer, he shot himself with a handgun in his home.

George Chaney, 52 Richmond, Va. The father of three shot himself in the head with a handgun.

Dwight Leonard, 69 North Bend, Wash. He put a suicide note in his wallet and left his will on a table before shooting himself in high grass along a road.

A.L. Stithem, 87 Snohomish County, Washington Plagued by health problems, he pointed a rifle at his head and pulled the trigger.

Eftekhar Entezari-Afshar, 42 Vancouver, Wash. The operator of a day-care center, she was shot by her estranged husband Mohammed, who has been charged with first-degree murder.

TUESDAY, MAY 2 Terrance Connell, 35 Montgomery, Ala. After talking with his mother, the warehouse worker went into his room and shot himself with a pistol.

Donald Litscher, 65 Tucson, Ariz. A psychotherapist, he shot himself after being indicted for child molestation and sexual abuse. His wife found the body.

Todd Glover, 21 Alameda, Calif. For his son's coming-of-age birthday, Bob Glover presented Todd with a special gift -- a .357 Magnum police revolver. It was a weapon Todd could use professionally if, as planned, he became a law-enforcement officer like his father, a sergeant on the Alameda force. Todd, who was working as an unarmed security guard, had recently begun taking the tests he had to pass to become a deputy sheriff. He loved the .357. He was handling it in his bedroom six days after his birthday when, in the adjoining room, his mother and stepfather, Karen and Ed Nadzan, heard it fire. They found him dead.

Jessee James Wichelman 21, Brentwood, Calif. While in his father's yard a bit after midnight, he was shot by an unknown gunman, who drove away.

Elisia Cruz Saavedra, 32, and Odilon Saavedra, 31 Linda, Calif. On Elisia's birthday, Odilon broke the bedroom window where his estranged wife, the mother of three daughters, was with her four-year-old. The mother fled. He caught her as she frantically knocked on a neighbor's door. He shot her three times with a pistol, then shot himself.

Robert Swanson, 18 Hemet, Calif. A student, he shot himself with a revolver in his parents' home. They found his body when they returned in the middle of the afternoon.

Arthur Farley, 29 Los Angeles, Calif. Armed with a knife and a broken bottle, he was attempting to rape a woman on the street when a policeman appeared. He rushed the officer, who shot him.

Julio Hernandez, 17 Los Angeles, Calif. He was shot with a handgun in what police believe may have been a gang-related attack.

Charles Padilla, 57 Los Angeles County, Calif. His two grandchildren went along in the car when restaurant owner Charles Padilla set out to buy film around 8:30 p.m. He wanted to take pictures of eleven-year-old granddaughter Karina's elementary school graduation the next morning. As he drove through an alley, he was cut off by a car carrying two men about 30 years old. Padilla tooted his horn. The other car's door opened. Its driver strode up to Padilla's vehicle. ''What's your problem?'' he asked. Feeling menaced, Padilla tried to roll up his window. The man held it open. ''What's your problem?'' he asked several times. Then he pulled a gun and shot Padilla in the back of the head.

Stanley Petersen, 34 St. Helena, Calif. A winery worker who suffered from drug and alcohol problems and was depressed over the breakup with a girlfriend, he shot himself at home.

Janice Billstone, 37 Aurora, Colo. A homemaker and wife of a policeman, she shot herself with her husband's service revolver.

Eric Dennis, 20 Denver, Colo. Believed to be a member of a local gang, he was killed execution style by a shot to the head. His body was dumped in a ditch along Interstate 70.

Donna Dial, 24 Altamonte Springs, Florida Following a spat with her boyfriend in an oyster bar, she shot herself with a revolver in their apartment after telling him, ''Watch.''

Elijah Sam Paulk, 70 near Bradenton, Fla. He was in a minor collision. As the other car's passengers sought help, he got out of his pickup and killed himself with a rifle.

John Elder, 19 Clewiston, Fla. He put one bullet in a revolver he had just bought and < spun the chamber. Over his girlfriend's protest, he aimed the gun at his head and fired.

Lawrence Weiss, 65 Dade County, Fla. Beset by ill health, he excused himself from a chat with family members, went into his garage and shot himself with a revolver.

Mercianna Wright, 35 Dade County, Fla. The mother of two was killed with a handgun fired by an unknown assailant. Her body was found on a streetside pathway.

Jorge Luis Pastor, 24 Miami, Fla. He was breaking into a house in broad daylight, police said. The woman inside screamed. A neighbor responded and shot him with a handgun.

Kenneth Minyard, 24 Atlanta, Ga. A sailor, he broke into an apartment and threatened the occupant. The man held him at bay for a time with a pistol and fired when rushed.

Daniel Sale Sr., 76 Atlanta, Ga. In poor health as a result of successive strokes, the retired state patrolman shot himself with a handgun. His housekeeper found the body.

Rachel Parris, 20 Chicago, Ill. A prostitute, she was shot in the back while trying to get out of the truck of the 18-year-old man who had picked her up. He was charged with first-degree murder.

Donald McKinney, 65 Indianapolis, Ind. Suffering from a painful, spreading cancer, he shot himself with a semiautomatic gun within the hearing of his wife and daughter.

Chad Gutknecht, 17 Dike, Iowa A member of the high school senior class that would graduate in a few weeks, he killed himself with a rifle in his car at a roadside park.

Arthur Hanks, 27 Bayou Lourse, La. A truck driver, possibly depressed because of health problems, he shot himself in the bathroom of his parents' home.

David Sevigny, 33 Saco, Me. The Army veteran and electronics worker shot himself with a rifle at home early in the morning.

Louie Richardson, 79 Davidsonville, Md. In failing health, his wife in a nursing home, he shot himself in his driveway.

William Newell, 33 Detroit, Mich. A security guard, he got into a quarrel with his sometime girlfriend. She shot him, she later claimed, because she feared an attack. Police ruled the shooting self-defense.

Mary Ann Fedick, 34 Brooklyn Park, Minn. After asking her sister to take care of her kids, the mother of three, a cocaine user, killed herself with a shotgun.

Thomas Clayton, 47 East Brunswick, N.J. A warehouse worker for Baccarat, a French crystal importing firm in Edison, N.J., Thomas Clayton was riding to his job in an off-duty public bus driven by someone he knew well: his wife Lilly Green, 46. She was ostensibly heading toward her own morning duties. But along the way she made an unscheduled stop and picked up a second passenger. When the new arrival climbed aboard, he promptly produced a revolver, approached Clayton and shot him dead. The surprise passenger, Howard Phillips, 58, and Lilly Green have been indicted for murder.

Patricio Gallegos, 47 Lower Colonias, N. Mex. After having a party in his home, he had an argument that led to a fight. He was shot with a rifle by a friend and neighbor, who suffered a knife wound.

Michael Markowitz, 42 Brooklyn, N.Y. Known for shady connections, he was shot while driving a Rolls-Royce. He got out of the car, went to a house, knocked, collapsed and died.

Frederick Lewis, 20 Far Rockaway, N.Y. He was shot with a handgun and found in the driver's seat of a parked Plymouth. He was studying to be a paramedic. Police had no motive for the killing.

Ezat Achakzad, 35 Queens, N.Y. A gypsy (unlicensed) cab driver, he was shot at 10:50 p.m. in the head, apparently by a robber using a handgun.

Pui Yan Chung, 40 Queens, N.Y. He was shot three times in the stomach with a handgun when someone attempted to rob his restaurant.

Carlos Guerra, 35 Rochester, N.Y. A jobless nurse's aide, he got into a barroom argument. His antagonist followed him to the street when he left and shot him with a revolver.

Robert Caruso Sr., 44 Rock Hill, N.Y. A truck driver with an alcohol problem, he was killed with a shotgun fired by his teenage son, who was known as quiet and polite. A grand jury is investigating.

Gail Sheriff, 34 Columbus, Ohio She was found slumped in her car in front of her apartment, shot once in the chest with a pistol. Her estranged husband has been charged with murder.

Kenneth Lenoir, 16 Dayton, Ohio He was shot twice in the head with a handgun at close range. Police suspected that he was involved in a crack deal that went sour.

Raymond Bates, 26 Elyria, Ohio He shot himself with a revolver for no known reason. His mother found his body in the family home.

Maurice Humeniuk, 18 Salem, Ohio In drug and alcohol rehabilitation for two years, he shot himself at home with a rifle. A case of unrequited love was blamed.

Linn McFann, 25 Oklahoma City, Okla. Originally from West Virginia and employed by an airline catering service, he shot himself in the mouth with a .22-cal. rifle.

Oris McCoy, 69 Portland, Ore. A retired plumber, he shot himself in the head with a pistol in his home. His girlfriend found him.

Charles Dunnigan Sr., 67 Jeddo, Pa. On the night before his initial court hearing on a child-molestation charge, he killed himself with a shotgun.

Milton Fleming, 30 Philadelphia, Pa. He was shot in the head by unknown attackers, who left him facedown in front of his residence on North 28th Street.

Angel Luis Milan, 21 Providence, R.I. He was shot three times with a shotgun while in his girlfriend's car outside a housing project. Police suspect drugs were involved.

Thomas Stallcup, 67 Greenville, S.C. , A former professional baseball player and retired supervisor at a chemical company, he turned a shotgun on himself.

Ronald Nettles, 36 Pineridge, S.C. He was shot with a pistol in his trailer home during a fight with his wife. He was unemployed. Police have charged her with manslaughter.

Andre Burse, 22 Memphis, Tenn. A man with no known employment, he kicked in the door of an ex-girlfriend, who shot him with a pistol. Police labeled it self-defense.

Eva Porter, 61 Mount Pleasant, Tenn. During an argument with an ex-boyfriend, she was shot with a pistol while sitting in her car. He was charged with homicide.

Mike Hall, 19 Nashville, Tenn. Unemployed, he got into an argument with a man over a woman both had been seeing. The rival fetched a shotgun and killed him.

Guillermo Padilla, 33 El Paso, Texas A correctional officer at a federal facility in Anthony, Texas, he shot himself in the head with a revolver in his bedroom.

Kelby Sistrunk, 20 Flower Mound, Texas A landscaper, he shot himself with a rifle at a friend's lakeside cabin after talking with a girlfriend on the phone.

Merle Elshick, 70 Houston, Texas Ill for a long time, she shot herself with a pistol at home. Her husband found her.

Clarence Ballou, 45 Orange, Texas Jobless, he resumed an argument he had been having with two brothers, and one of them shot him with a revolver. Though he was not a user, the victim was in a crack house.

Stephan Sears, 23 Sterling County, Texas A ranch hand and gun lover, he accidentally shot himself when he was removing a rifle from the gun rack of a pickup truck. The trigger caught on the rack.

Ann Heuerman, 71 Williamson County, Texas She wrote a note about the pain of her arthritis and shot herself with a revolver. Her husband found the body when he got home.

Donovan Orman, 18 King County, Wash. In a sleeping bag in his car, which he had parked in a school lot (he had no known address), he killed himself with a rifle.

Brent Jackson, 24 South Charleston, W. Va. A computer technician who was once honored as an ''outstanding artist'' in West Virginia, he shot himself in the chest with a handgun.

Mary Brissee, 56 Oregon, Wis. A housewife said by the coroner's office to have suffered mental problems for several years, she killed herself at home with a shotgun. Her husband found her.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3 Charlotte Crawford, 34 Blount County, Ala. After an argument, she was shot with a pistol by a 27-year-old woman who lived with Crawford's estranged husband. The woman claims self-defense.

Albert McEntyre, 29 Phoenix, Ariz. A dispute between two neighboring families erupted in the evening. He was shot with a rifle in front of his house, and a teenager has been charged with murder.

Patricia Bennett, 39 Malvern, Ark. | A housewife, she went into her room and shot herself with a handgun.

Betty Buffington, 35 Camden, Ark. A policeman saw her take a shot at her estranged husband in the parking lot of the trucking firm that employed him. When she pointed her revolver at the officer, he shot her.

Henry Harrison II, 19 Compton, Calif. A loader for United Parcel Service, he was ambushed from behind and killed with a shotgun. Police have no suspect or motive.

Stanford Goodlett, 32 near Gilroy, Calif. While visiting the Valley View campsite, the traveling salesman shot himself in the head in his tent. In two attempts at a suicide note, he expressed his dislike for family outings.

Randy Kaye, 35 Huntington Beach, Calif. A businessman suffering from cardiovascular disease, he shot himself in the chest at home.

Robert Hill, 24 Inglewood, Calif. A cargo handler for an airline company, he was driving a small pickup truck when someone shot him from a passing car.

Michael Brown, 28 Los Angeles, Calif. While sitting in his truck, he was killed by a man who robbed him and then stole the vehicle.

Denice Rommel, 39 Rosemead, Calif. A homemaker, she was in her neighbor's backyard when she shot herself with a pistol. She had a history of mental problems and had threatened suicide several times.

Charles Bunn, 18 Sacramento, Calif. After an apparent dispute about the girl he was dating, he was shot by a rival suitor.

Ralph Mitchem Jr., 27 Sacramento, Calif. Unemployed and living in a house in which several guns were kept, he picked up a rifle and killed himself.

Benjamin Montalbano 69, Santa Ana, Calif. An insurance adjuster suffering from cancer, he shot himself in the head while sitting in his car outside his home.

Paul Dell, 61 Fruita, Colo. A former city councilman who had recently suffered a stroke, he shot himself in the chest with a revolver.

David Julien Sr., 34 District of Columbia He was found on a sidewalk in critical condition from multiple wounds. Julien died five days later. Police arrested a suspect and say the killing was drug related.

Herman Bess, 72 Clermont, Fla. A retiree who lived with his mother, he was to begin radiation treatment for cancer this day. Instead, he shot himself with a revolver.

Johnnie Rollins, 18 Dade County, Fla. The day after three men tried to rob him, police believe, he met the trio again and pulled a gun. He was killed in an exchange of gunfire.

Joyce Anderson, 44 Lady Lake, Fla. Mired in a violent marriage and depressed by the state's threats to take her grandchildren, the nursery worker went to her kitchen and shot herself between the eyes.

Markku Saari, 40 Lighthouse Point, Fla. While sitting in a van, he shot himself in the head with a semiautomatic handgun. He had lost his job.

Thomas Bourgeois, 17 Miami, Fla. He was killed with a single bullet to the head. Police believe it was a drug-related homicide.

Harold Bryant, 38 Savannah, Ga. He phoned a police dispatcher, then shot himself with a handgun before the officer could talk him out of suicide.

Gregory Green, 23 Chicago, Ill. At 2:30 a.m., he was found lying next to his car near a bar he frequented with friends. Police had no suspect or motive in the shooting.

Gordon Rudd, 35 Kendall County, Ill. He was found along a road, beaten and shot in the back and head.

Jeffrey McKinney, 25 Round Lake Park, Ill. His recently divorced wife was removing her property from their home when he said, ''So, this is it,'' went to the bedroom and killed himself with a shotgun.

Andy Martin, 24 Hayden, Ind. His wife ran to a neighbor, screaming ''They shot him!'' He died at home of gunshot wounds during an attempted robbery.

Keith Johnson, 25 Kokomo, Ind. A cousin shot the construction worker about 4:50 a.m. after an argument in their grandmother's house. The cousin has been charged with reckless homicide.

Charles Brown, 39 New Orleans, La. He fell to the ground near a housing project shortly before midnight. ''Dude, you got me,'' he said just after he was shot. He died the next afternoon. Police have no motive.

Steve Toomer, 25 New Orleans, La. He was sitting in a truck parked in his driveway when a man with a rifle approached and opened fire, hitting him at least four times. So far, there has been no arrest.

Raoul Diaz, 42 Portland, Me. He called a friend to say he intended to kill himself. The friend called the police, but Diaz was dead from shotgun wounds when they arrived.

Gregory Ash, 38 Baltimore, Md. Apparently the victim of a drug dispute, he was found dead of a head wound in his apartment. There was no break-in.

James Botts, 48 Brandywine, Md. He wrote a note to his wife, then killed himself with a revolver in their home.

Lawrence Desmond, 48 Gaithersburg, Md. The retired county police officer shot himself in the chest with a revolver at about 11 p.m.

David Holmquist, 24 Bristol, Mich. A laborer, he killed himself with a shotgun in the mobile home he shared with his wife and two children.

Ross Kongeal, 24 Detroit, Mich. While walking down the sidewalk around 9 p.m., he was approached by a man who robbed him and then shot him in the chest.

Stacey Dering, 23 Detroit, Mich. He was sitting on a porch with friends about 3 p.m. when he was hit by shots fired from a passing car.

Reginald Lovett, 34 Detroit, Mich. Responding to a ''man shot'' call at 2 a.m., police found the unemployed dockworker on the bathroom floor in a house. He died of stomach wounds.

Michael Echelbarger, 40 South Haven, Mich. A Viet Nam veteran with mental problems, he killed himself with a shotgun in his parents' home.

Andre Crenshaw, 17 St. Paul, Minn. He and his 16-year-old friend had argued. The friend, who had bought a pistol last winter, said he wanted to shoot Andre in the leg. But the bullet hit his heart instead.

Helen Ann Carroll, 64 St. Paul Park, Minn. A homemaker, she left a note for her husband saying she was despondent, then shot herself in the chest with a deer rifle.

Scott Olson, 29 Sartell, Minn. While he argued with his wife, police were summoned. They surrounded his house, but instead of coming out, he killed himself.

Mary E. Brown, 58, and William Jones, 53 Jackson, Miss. Jones had served four years in prison for beating his wife to death in 1982. He and Brown had a five-year on-and-off relationship that she had tried to end. He shot her three times with a revolver, poured gasoline on her and set her afire. Then he shot himself, and he was caught in the flames.

Lorena Myers, 67 Jackson, Miss. Suffering from Parkinson's disease and under psychiatric care, she killed herself with a revolver in the apartment she shared with her husband.

Milton Carpenter, 22 Ava, N.Y. The .22-cal. Mossberg rifle was Milton Carpenter's treasure: it had been left to him by his father. Though he seldom fired it, Carpenter, a bakery worker, loved to show off the weapon. He was doing just that while drinking with friends in the rented house in northern New York that he occupied with his girlfriend Yvonne Moylan, 31, and their two children, Travis, 2, and newborn Yvonne Rose. As Carpenter brandished the weapon, he stepped backward and tripped over little Travis. The rifle banged against his lower lip. It went off, sending a bullet through the roof of his mouth. He died a week later.

James Crenshaw Jr., 59 Ruidoso Downs, N. Mex. In pain from terminal cancer, the carpenter used a revolver to shoot himself in his home at 1:49 a.m.

George Aufiero, 27 The Bronx, N.Y. Dismissed as a corrections officer, he was found in a hallway with a gunshot wound in his head. Police are investigating.

Juan Hernandez, 36 New York, N.Y. Found in his apartment with two head wounds, he may have been the victim of a drug dispute. There was no forced entry.

Lin Kai Ying, 22 Queens, N.Y. The young restaurant owner was approached at his business by two Asian men at about 9:15 p.m. One shot him four times.

Carl Junior Huneycutt, 69 Albemarle, N.C. The retired millworker had agreed to accept counseling about his suicidal inclinations. But he killed himself before the first session.

Nicholas Fortnat, 86 Youngstown, Ohio His brother and a best friend had recently died, and he had cancer. He shot himself with a rifle.

James A. Ammon Jr., 64 Coatesville, Pa. A retired plumber, he seemed in good mental and physical health, but he rigged a shotgun to kill himself in his garage bathroom.

William Alexander, 27 Philadelphia, Pa. Police responding to a call found him on a street, bleeding from four gunshot wounds.

Larry Palmer, 37 Philadelphia, Pa. Shot once in the head execution-style, he was found by a park employee. Police have no suspect or motive.

Michael Rosinsky, 77 Smithfield, Pa. The retired yard boss of a coal company, he complained of pain from a suspected cancer. His wife found him in their basement, shot with a rifle.

James Purvis, 65 Florence County, S.C. He used a pistol to commit suicide. Authorities will not release any further information.

Perry Thomas, 32 Springfield, Tenn. A private guard at a nightclub, he was killed by a patron after an argument. The man was charged with homicide.

Richard Twedell, 62 Dallas, Texas In poor health since January, the retired labor-union official ended his life with a shotgun.

Gregory Brice, 28 Houston, Texas Grabbed by a police officer after burglarizing two homes, he was accidentally shot when the two stumbled over a curb, according to police.

Richard Griffin, 43 Houston, Texas He quit a data processor's job in Georgia and returned to Houston, but could not win back his former common-law wife. A few hours later, he shot himself in his car.

Martin Rodriguez Gomez, 69, Houston, Texas A retired school janitor, he shot himself with a pistol in his backyard. He was found by his daughter.

Owen Hazen, 26 San Antonio, Texas As Police Chief Bill Gibson said later, it was ''just like in the movies.'' Patrolman Raymond Phillips, accompanied by nine other officers, kicked open the front door of a nondescript house to serve a search warrant for narcotics possession with intent to sell. From 8 ft. inside, Owen Hazen, possibly expecting a personal enemy, fired a 12-gauge shotgun at Phillips, who was saved only by a bulletproof vest. Instantly, Phillips, a member of a special police unit that targets repeat offenders, returned fire with a .357 Magnum revolver. When emergency medical technicians arrived at the scene, Hazen was dead. Near his body, officers found a second loaded 12-gauge.

Laura Ortega, 21 San Antonio, Texas A security guard for Wells Fargo, she ended her life with her service revolver. Medical examiner ruled it a suicide.

Ben Riley, 54 San Antonio, Texas After tipping police that a friend's child had been sexually abused, he was killed by a shot fired from a passing car.

Nathanial Doebler, 19 Westminster, Vt. A high school senior, he fired a shotgun into his head at home.

Melvin Koester, 76 Clark County, Wash. The cabinetmaker killed himself with a shotgun outside his rural home.

$ James Walker, 46 Beloit, Wis. He was caught speeding by a sheriff's deputy and chased into his house, where he reached for a gun on a couch. The officer fled, but Walker, gun in hand, followed him. The officer shot him.

THURSDAY, MAY 4 Marvin Jones, 50 Marengo County, Ala. He was hit in the back by a shotgun blast in a family dispute over 100 acres of ranchland. His nephew was charged with the murder.

Glenn Bantigue, 33 Carson, Calif. While on a 30-day leave because of injuries suffered in a fall, he was startled to notice a classified ad that seemed to describe his job -- collections officer for the Cosco Fire Protection Division of Zurn Industries. He concluded he was about to be fired. Distraught, he drove to the company offices and demanded an explanation. Were they advertising his job? Indeed they were. After arguing with two corporate officers, who had difficulty getting a word in edgewise, he shot and wounded both with a semiautomatic pistol, then shot himself in the head. No one had a chance to tell him that he was not being fired but merely transferred to another division.

Jaime Valencia, 20 Compton, Calif. His body was found in the parking lot of a bar, a handgun wound in his head. Police say he lost an argument about a woman.

Harold Rowell, 69 Escondido, Calif. A cancer patient receiving chemotherapy, he had written a suicide note seven months earlier. He killed himself with a shotgun.

Randolph Bendzulla, 22 Grass Valley, Calif. A construction worker, he shot himself in the head with a rifle after drinking. A friend discovered his body at his home. %

Sharmaine McClure-Gilliam, 26 Los Angeles, Calif. Slapped by a gang member at a crack house after she bumped into him, she protested, ''That's no way to treat a woman!'' He shot her.

Antonio Mirabal, 33 Los Angeles, Calif. He was shot while sitting in a parked car. Police believe he was a Mexican national; no one claimed his body.

Booker Robinson Jr., 33 Los Angeles, Calif. A maintenance man, he shot himself with a handgun while sitting in his car, for reasons unknown.

Lebanon Napoleon, 30 San Diego, Calif. A karate expert, he shot himself in the head with a handgun. A family member said he had had drug and alcohol problems.

Jose Mario Palomo, 35 San Jose, Calif. A laborer, he shot himself with a rifle at home. Police believe he was despondent over losing his girlfriend.

Henry McGraw, 77 Santa Cruz, Calif. The onetime circus clown shot himself in the head with a revolver. His common-law wife found the body.

John Post, 65 Santa Ynez, Calif. He killed himself with a gunshot wound to the head. A visiting friend discovered the body.

Eldor Peterson, 65 Longmont, Colo. A retiree, he shot himself in the head with a shotgun.

Homer Brooks Jr., 52 Cheshire, Conn. A salesman for a fiber-glass tank manufacturing concern in Waterbury, and divorced, he killed himself in his garage with a shotgun. %

Alvin Jarvis, 87 Putnam, Conn. A retired motor-vehicle inspector in ill health, he shot himself with a pistol at home. His wife and son were in the house.

Ronald Craven, 26 Jacksonville, Fla. On the street outside a barroom, after what witnesses said was an argument over a drug debt, he was shot twice with a handgun.

Fred Adkinson, 78 Lake County, Fla. Authorities say that while his wife was absent from the house seeking mental-health services for him, he shot himself with a revolver in the garage.

John McCabe, 83 Lake Worth, Fla. He lived with his wife and a nurse, required by chronic medical problems. He killed himself with a rifle. The nurse found his body.

George Smith, 34 Miami, Fla. He hit a 6-ft. 3-in. man called ''Shorty'' with a chair. Shorty, 20, allegedly fetched a shotgun, chased him and shot him down in the street.

Mary Gass, 65 Tampa, Fla. Police say that while her husband was outside doing chores, she killed herself with a revolver. She had been ill recently, but not gravely so.

Robert Hardison, 23 Atlanta, Ga. A maid entered his motel room in early afternoon and found him dead of a shot from a revolver. Ruled a suicide.

Randolph Hayes, 66 Atlanta, Ga. He was retired and suffering from a terminal illness. His son dropped by his home for a visit and found him dead from a revolver shot.

Patrick Jones, 16 Atlanta, Ga. When he answered the doorbell of his house, he was hit through the screen door by a large-caliber bullet. Police have made no arrest.

Roy Ammons, 61 Brantley County, Ga. A week after burying his wife, he urgently summoned the sheriff to his house. The sheriff found his body and a shotgun in the backyard.

Donald Powell, 28 Locust Grove, Ga. A service-station owner, he had lived in a motel since his separation from his wife. In his room, he fired a shotgun into his chest.

Bertram Palmer, 19 Savannah, Ga. His father saw him talking with two people ouside the house. After hearing two gunshots, he went out to find his son lying faceup in the street and the two fleeing.

Rodney Smith, 34 Pittsfield, Ill. The guitarist, singer and songwriter for the group Two for the Show, he shot himself with a rifle in his right eye. Friends said he had been distraught over his divorce.

Dwayne Collins, 26 Chicago, Ill. A laborer, he was found lying in the street outside his South Side home, shot in the chest and back. Authorities have no suspects in custody.

Duane Henderson, 22 Hammond, Ind. At 10 p.m. he went on duty as a night clerk at an Amoco gas station. At 11:45 two customers found him shot in the head with a handgun.

Dixie Long, 36 Hutchinson, Kans. Her daughter, 13, found her dead in bed, a shotgun wound in the head. The beauty-shop owner's boyfriend, 42, was held on $1 million bail.

Garnet McCoy, 15 Watergap, Ky. A freshman at Prestonsburg High School, she died of a single revolver wound in the stomach. Police say two of her friends had recently attempted suicide.

Johnny Berry, 20, Baton Rouge, La., and Forest Hodges, 24, Natchez, Miss. Hodges broke into Berry's apartment in Baton Rouge, killed him with a shotgun and then raped and beat his 24-year-old former girlfriend, who was staying there. He fled in Berry's red Chevrolet pickup. When sheriff's deputies found him in a truck near his family's property in Natchez, he shot himself in the mouth.

Louise Issac, 60 Merryville, La. She was shot in the back by her friend and roommate, Dee Flemons, 60. Police later charged him with manslaughter.

John Lytle, 50 Baltimore, Md. An attorney, he killed himself at home with a handgun. A friend found his body, gun still in hand.

Marc Perlow, 38 Baltimore County, Md. The owner of a diamond brokerage, he was killed with a handgun by robbers who stole jewelry and precious stones.

Wallace Worden, 42 Battle Creek, Mich. A truck driver worn down by a battle with diabetes, he failed in a suicide attempt two years ago. This time he succeeded.

O.D. Thompson, 29 Benton Harbor, Mich. His body was found in a yard of an apartment complex after he was shot by an 18-year-old his brother had just argued with. Police called him an innocent victim of a drug dispute.

James Hamilton, 75 Blissfield, Mich. Melancholy since the death of his wife three years ago, he stepped out into his front yard with a shotgun and killed himself.

John Vitale, 15 Clarkston, Mich. A high school freshman, he shot himself in the head with a handgun kept in a bureau belonging to his parents.

James Neely, 30 Detroit, Mich. He was in a car with a female friend on the city's east side when a man walked up with a gun, killed him and wounded her. Police still have no motive for the shooting.

Clayton Christopherson, 52 Minneapolis, Minn. Suffering from alcoholism, he had separated from his wife for a year to speed his recovery. He resumed drinking this year and shot himself in the head.

Yvonne Campbell, 47 Natchez, Miss. A physician's wife who had attempted suicide twice previously, she had been depressed lately. She shot herself with a handgun.

Diana Bird, 38, and Lonnie Harrison, 36 Laughlin, Nev. A cocktail waitress, she was coming off her shift at a hotel casino when her unemployed ex-husband, ejected earlier for harassing her, returned and shot her with a pistol in front of other casino employees. He then turned the gun on himself.

Vincent Becchinelli, 44 New York, N.Y. He left his East Harlem pet shop to go to a local bank. ( There, a robber grabbed an envelope from him and shot him twice with a handgun.

Victor Plaza, 50, and Roberto Ramirez, 42 The Bronx, N.Y. The two men, known to police as drug dealers, were found, handcuffed behind their backs and shot twice with an automatic weapon, in the trunk of a 1980 Mercury alongside the Pelham Parkway. The car had been set on fire. Police had no leads to the identity or motives of the killers.

James Garmon, 59 Midland, N.C. Depressed by the recent death of his wife, he shot himself with a pistol. His son came by the house and found the body.

Matthew McQuillan, 22 Tiffin, Ohio Despondent about how things were going at Tiffin University, he shot himself with a handgun. Fellow students found the body in their shared house.

Minerva Jackson, 36, and David Jackson, 48 Wooster, Ohio During a quarrel over her drinking, she was killed with a revolver by her husband of two months. A pet-store owner, he turned the weapon on himself just as her 18-year-old son, who had heard the first shot, came running into the room to see what had happened.

J.R. McDonald, 38 Del City, Okla. Self-employed as a tire dealer, he was shot with a revolver in a quarrel over money. A 56-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder.

Mary Louise Wells, 77 Portland, Ore. A housewife suffering from cancer, she shot herself in the head with a pistol while sitting in an empty bathtub.

Mary Elliott, 79, and Jack Elliott, 79 Philadelphia, Pa. After a decade-long history of mental illness requiring repeated hospitalizations, she was shot by her husband, who had recently been in the hospital for mental problems. He shot himself with the same handgun.

Horace Wood, 27 Philadelphia, Pa. He got out of a car to argue with a young man. Three others approached, and he was shot with a handgun wielded by one of the three.

Robert F. Helms, 37 Lancaster County, S.C. The laborer was found dead at home by police. Ruled a suicide.

Kimberly Byers, 22 Chattanooga, Tenn. Unable to conceive a child after months of trying, she shot herself at her home using a rifle.

Robert Warren, 31 Cheatham County, Tenn. He was shot by an acquaintance during an argument about a girlfriend. He died the next day.

Calvert Lark, 51 Kingsport, Tenn. When he missed work at a glass manufacturer, a colleague checked his home and through a window saw his body. He had shot himself with a handgun.

Derrick Smith, 9 Bartlett, Texas Known as ''Kye'' to his family, Smith was a talented player on a midget-league baseball team in this tiny central Texas town. He was passing the afternoon at his grandparents' while his mother worked as a nurse's aide. He and a cousin were sitting on a sofa studying baseball ^ cards when his two-year-old brother toddled into the room with a revolver picked up from a dresser elsewhere in the house. Sensing danger, another cousin, also 9, grabbed the gun. It fired, and the bullet struck Kye. He was dead on arrival at a local hospital.

Kevin Calhoun, 24, and Lenny Williams, 28 Houston, Texas The two were in the front seat of a car when a man with a pistol in the backseat shot both of them in the head. The suspect fled to another occupied car. Several hundred dollars and other valuables belonging to the dead men were untouched. Police arrested two suspects but released both for lack of evidence.

Michael Delgadillo Jr., 19 Port Arthur, Texas After an argument with his 15-year-old girlfriend, he killed himself with a pistol at his family home.

Mary Jean Green, 33 Ellisville, Va. The mother of two children, she killed herself with a handgun in a wooded area behind her house.

Russell Bowles, 22 Goochland County, Va. A farm and construction worker, he killed himself with a shotgun. The body was discovered by his mother.

Willard Burks, 36 King County, Wash. He chased, shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend after an argument. Believing he had killed her, Burks turned the gun on himself.

Janice Konecny, 46 Chetek, Wis. Unemployed and living with her parents, she shot herself with a shotgun.

Dolores Slee, 35 Casper, Wyo. An executive secretary, she shot herself, for unknown reasons, with a revolver.

FRIDAY, MAY 5 Hasan Abdullah, 14 Tarrant City, Ala. The high school student was in a friend's home when the friend shot him with a revolver. The youth, who said the death was an accident, has been charged with manslaughter.

Debbie Kinkade, 30 Glendale, Ariz. A bartender, she was severely depressed and killed herself with a shotgun in her home.

Cesar Ocano, 17 Tempe, Ariz. He visited a 20-year-old friend who had a new pistol. Thinking it was unloaded, the older man pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger.

Gail Schoenecker, 40 Anaheim, Calif. The schoolteacher was shot in the head by her husband, a chemical engineer who said he had a higher purpose in life and his wife didn't understand it.

Jesus Garcia, 46 Los Angeles, Calif. Sitting in his car, he suffered a fatal heart attack when his car was riddled with bullets, one of which hit him in the leg. No suspects have been arrested.

Luis Reyes, 22 Menlo Park, Calif. A pistol shot fired from another car hit him in the head and killed him as he was driving on U.S. 101.

Garth Winger, 26 Oceanside, Calif. He was shot by a former girlfriend who told police he had sexually assaulted her. The police have not pressed charges against the woman.

Herbert Kinney, 84 San Francisco, Calif. Suffering from Parkinson's disease, he called a relative to say he intended to kill himself. He did so before the relative could reach him.

Peggy Robello, 36 San Marcos, Calif. Her body was found in a field. The dental assistant had shot herself in the head with a handgun. She left a note saying she was ''tired of fighting life.''

Junior Silvester Clarke, 28, Vista, Calif. Stopped by a deputy sheriff for erratic driving, he ran away. Overtaken, he began choking the officer, who shot him.

Diane Flemming, 23 Denver, Colo. A prostitute, she argued with a female neighbor over crack. The neighbor shot her and another woman, who survived.

Balford Duffey, 70 Fort Myers, Fla. A retired photographer in pain from a respiratory illness, he shot himself in the head with a revolver.

Lawrence Sanders, 26 Fort Pierce, Fla. He was shot twice in the head in the driveway of an acquaintance's home. The police have no motive.

Bobby Reeves, 27 Jacksonville, Fla. While in a motel room with a woman, he was killed by her former boyfriend.

Jorge Rodriguez, 28 Miami, Fla. The delivery driver for a bottled-water firm was reportedly having marital problems. He placed a shotgun to his chest and pulled the trigger.

William Tillman, 20 Miami, Fla. He was sitting in a parking lot talking to a friend when three men shot him in a robbery attempt. He died of multiple gunshot wounds. (

Donald Mobley, 28, and Richard Owens, 19 Thonotosassa, Fla. The two roommates reportedly were lovers. Mobley shot himself in their apartment first. According to one account, Owens dropped off a suicide note at his mother's house, then returned, embraced his dear friend and killed himself. Mobley was found clutching a teddy bear; Owens was holding a handgun.

Bernard Bryan, 41 Buena Vista, Ga. The disabled father of five had been treated for mental problems. He was found lying on a cemetery plot. He had shot himself.

Harold Stowe, 46 Covington, Ga. Estranged from his wife, he lived in a van on their wooded property. She shot him through the window of his vehicle, then summoned an ambulance. She has been indicted for murder.

Robert Williams, 26 Griffin, Ga. He shot his former girlfriend and a man at her apartment, then killed himself. The wounded victims were expected to survive.

Jennifer Mesenbring, 25 Kankakee, Ill. Her car was rammed by the car of a former classmate who was under court order to stay away from her. He shot her three times and also wounded two pursuing officers. She was to be married May 27.

Dana Taylor, 19, and George Handy, 21 Jefferson Parish, La. After she ended their relationship, he shot the recent high school graduate in the face, then turned the gun on himself. Taylor believed Handy was dealing in drugs, but the coroner said the part-time grocery-store cashier had no drugs in his system when he died.

, Lucky Okoruwa, 24 Capitol Heights, Md. As the cabbie dropped off one customer, another customer in the backseat shot him in an apparent robbery attempt.

Ronald Cobbins, 20, and Whitney Rainey, 2 Kansas City, Mo. At about 3 a.m., Marcia Rainey, 22, in bed with her daughter Whitney and a new boyfriend, Ronald Cobbins, heard an alarming noise in the adjacent room and went to investigate. She heard someone at the window and called the police. She tried to wake Cobbins, but he was too tired to get up. She returned to the dining room to find her jealous ex-boyfriend Henry Tatum, 22. After struggling with her and knocking her to the floor, Tatum ran to the bedroom, where he confronted Cobbins, who had been awakened by the noise. Tatum started shooting at Cobbins with a .25-cal. handgun, and fired repeatedly into the bed. The baby girl was hit in the neck, the forearm, the thigh, the calf. Cobbins, who had hoped to become a policeman, died two hours later during surgery. Tiny Whitney lingered until the next day.

Jeffrey Cobb, 29 Boston, Mass. The father of four was killed with a handgun at the door of his apartment. Police suspect he was involved in a dispute over a drug deal.

Andre Emanuel, 27 Detroit, Mich. Police responded to a call about an open door in his home and found him in the basement, dead of a gunshot wound.

Joseph Desbiens, 37 Manchester, N.H. He was found murdered in a drug neighborhood, his body covered by a mattress and a piece of plywood.

Raymond Werner, 34 Middle Township, N.J. The zoo-maintenance worker, who lived alone, shot himself in his home.

Edgar Crespo, 24 Trenton, N.J. He threatened a neighbor with a pistol, and the police were called. They chased him down an alley, and in the exchange of shots, he was hit in the chest, abdomen, arm and leg.

Raymond Navarez, 29 Las Cruces, N. Mex. He had behaved strangely since suffering a severe beating. He took a handgun to a store and asked to have it melted down. Then he went to an empty lot and shot himself with it.

Michel Calixte, 33 Brooklyn, N.Y. The cab driver was found dead in his taxi after four men were seen fleeing. It was an apparent robbery and murder.

Nichole Henry, 15 Brooklyn, N.Y. A 16-year-old friend was playing with his handgun when it accidentally fired. She was hit in the neck. The friend has been indicted for criminally negligent homicide.

Jeffrey Cruz, 24 New York, N.Y. The night-college student was found wounded in the hallway of an apartment building that police say was a known drug location.

Robert Smith, 33 Brooklyn, N.Y. Unemployed, Robert Smith had been planning to move to North Carolina to seek work in a yarn factory. He was walking from a corner grocery to his sister's apartment at about 10:40 p.m., when the night blew up into craziness. A red Dodge Sundance emitting wild gunfire raced along and screeched to a halt. Two men leaped out, still shooting -- quickly, repeatedly, randomly. ''Like in the old-style Wild West,'' an assistant D.A. said later. Bullets hit buildings, ricocheted. One hit a young woman's leg. Another hit Smith in the neck, killing him. Witnesses steered police to Alan Dobson, 23, and James Smith (no relation), 19, who had spent the evening anticipating James Smith's wedding the next day.

Stacey Ford, 22 New York, N.Y. The unemployed man was found on the street in front of his apartment building with four gunshot wounds. There are no suspects.

Pavel Starominsky, 47 New York, N.Y. The shoe-store manager was shot three times by someone trying to rob him at his place of business.

Charles Locket, 44 Charlotte, N.C. The unemployed man was found dead on a sidewalk near his home at 9:20 p.m. An acquaintance was charged with his murder.

Darold Browning, 57 Hermiston, Ore. The employee of a satellite-dish company, he killed himself with a pistol. His body was found by his family in his mother's home.

Elie Samuel Middleton, 58, Chester City, Pa. His body was found with a gunshot wound in his chest on the street near a public-housing project. Police have no clues.

Arthur Smith, 28 Philadelphia, Pa. A known drug dealer, he was shot on a street corner and fled into an alley. He banged on the door of a resident, who called police.

Gregory Blackstone, 30 Memphis, Tenn. He was shot near his home in the culmination of a running dispute with an acquaintance over money.

David Terry, 42 Big Spring, Texas ) The manager of a Burger King in Roswell, N. Mex., killed himself with a rifle in his former home, where his estranged wife still lived.

Mary Van, 24 Dallas, Texas A teenage boy came up to her in the parking lot of her apartment complex, spoke to her and then shot her with a handgun. No arrest has been made.

Pedro Mendez, 32 Houston, Texas He and his brother argued with some people, who shot them both outside a bar. The brother survived.

Ira Gentry, 36 Odessa, Texas He had recently separated from his wife when he killed himself with a pistol in his home. She was visiting and heard the shot.

Brenda Johnson, 39 Hampton, Va. She was shot by the man who lived with her. He claims his gun went off while he was cleaning it. He was charged with homicide.

Corine James, 35 Richmond, Va. Her husband found her and their two children, John, 9, and Andrea, 14 months, dead in bed. The boy had been strangled, the baby smothered, and the mother had shot herself.

Terry Townes, 28 Milwaukee, Wis. He argued with an older roommate, who got a shotgun, apparently to scare Townes. The gun went off. The roommate has been charged with homicide.

SATURDAY, MAY 6 Alex Betancourt, 26 Tucson, Ariz. Unemployed, he was shot with a handgun near a fast-food restaurant. The killer was a man in a pickup with whom he had argued earlier.

Billy Huddleston, 58 North Little Rock, Ark. Depressed since his wife's death, the retired tire and automotive-supply company employee, known for his charity and volunteer work, shot himself with a revolver.

Everett Kiefer, 71 Applegate, Calif. In pain from terminal cancer, the retired man had tried suicide with pills the week before. He killed himself with a shotgun.

George Ames, 40 Crescent City, Calif. He wounded a neighbor in an argument over a parking space, then went to the apartment where he lived alone on disability and killed himself with a rifle.

Kevin Beard, 22 Los Angeles, Calif. A security officer for a private security company, he shot himself in the head with a handgun for unknown reasons.

Thomas Langton, 18 Los Angeles, Calif. While attending a party at which he had more than a few drinks, he got in an argument with another man and was shot on the sidewalk with a handgun.

Reginald Malone, 24 Los Angeles, Calif. He was found shot to death in his car with a handgun. Police could provide no more information.

Carnail Raiford, 18 Los Angeles, Calif. A machinist for a toy company, he was found shot to death in his car with a handgun in southwest L.A. Police suspect the killing was gang related but have no suspects.

Kevin Burkes, 23 Oakland, Calif. While standing on 70th Avenue about 10:15 p.m., the unemployed man was shot in the head with a handgun. Police suspect a drug connection.

Danielle Bock, 17 Sacramento, Calif. Believed to be a runaway, she died in the street of multiple pistol wounds. An acquaintance was charged with homicide.

George Schmid, 61 Dupont, Colo. An auto mechanic whose cancer had been diagnosed as hopeless, he shot himself with a semiautomatic pistol.

Nils Pearson, 38 Danbury, Conn. A railroad worker with mental problems caused by a head injury, he lived alone. He shot himself with a rifle bought the day before.

Darrell Holman, 37 Las Animas County, Colo. With big-game rifles in hand, they set out as a father-son hunting team: Darrell Holman, a heavy-equipment operator, and his 15-year-old son. Using bait, they attracted a black bear. The father shot the animal, but it was only wounded and escaped through the brush. They tracked the bear to a higher ridge, encountering it at close range. The enraged 300-lb. bear charged the father. He fired twice, but the beast kept coming, caught him, pinned him to a rock and mauled him. Desperate, the son fired his rifle at the bear. The shot hit his father, who died immediately. The bear was found dead later.

David Sweeting, 32 Davie, Fla. A trucker found him, dead of shotgun wounds, in the grass alongside Interstate 75. Police had no motive or suspects.

Donna Lee Perley-Borst, 29, and Stephen G. Borst, 46 Citrus County, Fla. A high school teacher, he shot his wife at home with a hunting rifle that would not work when he turned it on himself. He killed himself with a pistol in his mobile home in a nearby community, leaving a note alluding to marital problems. The couple had frequently separated.

Michael Leisler, 18 Orlando, Fla. A high school dropout, he shot himself with a .25-cal. automatic after losing a job and being turned down by the Marine Corps.

John Hebert, 19 Palatka, Fla. Outside a bar, he argued about a pool game with two other young men. One of them got a pistol from a van and shot him in the side.

Russell Bowers, 73 St. Augustine, Fla. He had been suffering from prostate cancer, taking numerous medications as well as hospice treatment. He killed himself at home with a pistol.

Thomas Kegler, 39 Tampa, Fla. After he allegedly stole $20 worth of crack, two suspected crack dealers, 17 and 18, beat him and shot him in the head. Police arrested the pair.

Patricia Errante, 32 Tarpon Springs, Fla. While reclining in their apartment beside her sleeping husband, who enjoyed collecting guns, she shot herself with one of his semiautomatic pistols.

John Jackson Sr., 67 Vero Beach, Fla. A semiretired construction worker, depressed since recent bypass surgery, he phoned his wife to say goodbye, then shot himself with a pistol.

Rhoda Berliner, 63 Atlanta, Ga. Long depressed, she shot herself with a recently purchased pistol after telephoning her son. Worried, he sent police to the house. The gun salesman had loaded the pistol for her.

John Thomas, 38 Atlanta, Ga. Neighbors heard arguing outside his apartment, then a gunshot. He had told his common-law wife that he owed money for drugs.

Enoch Dykes, 75 College Park, Ga. Depressed since placing his Alzheimer's disease-stricken wife in a nursing home, he summoned a neighbor, who found him dead, pistol in hand.

Michael Gayle, 31 Savannah, Ga. In front of a housing project, he was shot in the head with a handgun. Police think the homicide was drug related.

Anthony Patton, 22 Chicago, Ill. He made his living by scavenging for aluminum cans. On a street in the city's west side at night, he was shot once in the chest with a handgun.

Elvin Blair, 26 Chicago, Ill. On the street at 2:55 a.m., he got into an argument with a teen-ager who shot him dead and wounded his friend.

Matilda Hilst, 81 Green Valley, Ill. Long widowed, in ill health and known as a private person, she shot herself with a revolver. Her daughter found her in the bedroom of her home.

Jonathan Ferguson, 17 Martha, Ky. The high school senior was showing friends the handgun that his parents kept in their grocery store. He put the weapon to his head, apparently believing he had emptied it.

W. Daley Reed, 77 Lincoln County, Ky. Depressed about his deteriorating health, the retired dairy and tobacco farmer was found in his home with a handgun wound to his head.

Archie Shelton, 27 Whitley County, Ky. Conspicuously agitated, the Ohio welder shot himself with a handgun he wrested from his stepfather after yielding two other pistols to relatives.

Tammy Price, 25 Metairie, La. A hitchhiker and drug abuser, she was found dead in an alley in the New Orleans suburbs. There was a gunshot wound in her chest.

Ronald Sassone, 25 New Orleans, La. A resident of Rye, N.Y., the musician was in town looking for a job. While driving his van, he was shot by an unknown gunman.

Darryl Richardson, 20 Detroit, Mich. A street kid raised by poor parents, Darryl Richardson was lucky enough to catch the eye of Evans Pate, a retired government worker who cared for him and became his legal guardian. But the boy was unlucky enough at 16 to kill another youngster with a gun. He finished school in a detention center, returned home and enrolled in a community college but lasted only one semester. He had learned to love trendy clothes, says Pate, but ''he was really down on himself because he wasn't making the kind of money he wanted.'' After working all night delivering pizza, he came home at 10 a.m. and took Pate's pistol from its case. He muffled the gun so nobody would hear the shot, then killed himself.

Harold Williams, 30 New Orleans, La. A roofer and the father of two children, he was shot by his sister-in-law's common-law husband, who kicked open the door, pistol in hand, looking for his wife.

Moses Townes, 16 Capitol Heights, Md. He was a high school student playing with a revolver at the home of a neighbor, 14. The younger boy had the gun when it discharged.

Doris Shobe, 38 Detroit, Mich. She was shot in the chest by her husband, 50, at about 1:25 a.m. He said his pistol discharged accidentally. Police arrested him, and he is being tried for first-degree murder.

Joe Woullard, 52 Merrill, Miss. A self-employed auto-body repairman, he was killed with a revolver by a man with a known history of mental problems.

Stephen Miller, 35 Las Vegas, Nev. Unemployed, he was shot by a policeman who came to his apartment to investigate a disturbance and found him stabbing a woman.

Allen Ross, 27 Cherry Hill, N.J. A culinary-arts student, he shot himself in the chest with a target pistol at home.

Susan Duffy, 31 Clinton, N.J. The day after leaving a suicide note on her bed at her home in Lebanon, N.J., she was found in a wooded area, dead from a handgun wound.

Michael Lozano, 28 Reserve, N. Mex. A logger drinking with friends outdoors, he was firing a shotgun into the air for fun but somehow -- accidentally, it was ruled -- shot himself in the head.

Freddy Alberto, 31 Brooklyn, N.Y. The food vendor was found inside his car with one shot to the head from a handgun. Police had no suspects.

Curtis Fisher, 34 Buffalo, N.Y. Police in a patrol car saw him carrying a razor and shouting. He reacted by lunging at a policewoman, who shied away as her partner drew a gun and shot him.

Rafael Jaques, 34 New York, N.Y. His body was found in the lobby of a Harlem apartment building with gunshot wounds in the head and left forearm. Police believe his killing was drug related.

Fitzgerald Connor, 25 Charlotte, N.C. Police looking for a prowler found the lounge worker behind a store, dead of a pistol wound. A 27-year-old suspect was charged with murder.

George Orr, 34 Cleveland, Ohio Standing among others on a corner, he was shot by someone in a blue Chevy that had pulled up. Police suspect that the killing was drug related.

Anthony Dunbar, 21 Toledo, Ohio He was playing Russian roulette at the convenience store where he worked. Using the owner's gun, he lost on the second pull of the trigger.

Riley Taylor, 66 Wellsville, Ohio Depressed since a heart attack years ago, the retired steelworker killed himself with a shotgun. His wife found the body.

Justin Price, 12 Morrison, Okla. He and another twelve-year-old were playing in a garage with a revolver. In the hands of the playmate, it discharged accidentally into Justin's face.

Thomas Hartzler, 74 Belleville, Pa. His wife was in a nursing home and he had once been treated for depression himself. The retired partner in a flour-milling firm shot himself with a handgun.

Anthony Peoples, 32 Pittsburgh, Pa. Shot by his girlfriend with a handgun, he jumped from her second-floor window and died in the street. She had filed for protection from him.

Evans Thompson, 64 York, S.C. An employee of a tire store, he shot himself in his home ( with a revolver. According to the coroner, he told his wife that he had a terminal disease.

Stephen Davis, 25 Dallas, Texas An electrician, he got into a quarrel with a female acquaintance at a barbecue. She shot him with a revolver, and has been indicted for murder.

Christopher Burg, 26 Dallas County, Texas After a conversation with his pregnant wife, the welder was discovered with a wound to his head from a hunting rifle. The medical examiner ruled it a suicide.

Rosalio Lozano, 31 Houston, Texas Suffering from depression and a drinking problem, the welder committed suicide with a pistol in a car outside a relative's home.

Thomas Reed, 41 Houston, Texas The buyer for a natural-gas marketing company, he killed himself at his office with a handgun.

Terence Putney, 31 North Richland Hills, Texas Out of jail on bond, the vocational student was found in his home with a shotgun wound to the neck, an apparent suicide.

Gilbert Gonzalez, 20 San Antonio, Texas As he stood with his brother after midnight on a darkened sidewalk, he was shot from a passing car with a small-caliber gun. No arrests have been made.

Benny Lindsey, 54 Texarkana, Texas He was arguing with his brother, who shot him with a revolver in the living room of their home.

Sherdan Davis, 46 Bonney Lake, Wash. The construction worker was shot with a revolver at home by his daughter, 16, who claimed he had emotionally abused her.She was charged with murder.

Ruth Merriman, 57 Lewis County, Wash. Despondent since her husband died a few years ago, she shot herself with a rifle. Her son discovered her body.

Gaylord Bullis Jr., 65 Mercer Island, Wash. A retired courier-service manager, he was seeing a doctor for depression after therapy for a tumor. He killed himself with a pistol.

SUNDAY, MAY 7 Jerry Lewis, 25 Tucson, Ariz. He went to the apartment of a man with whom he had argued. The man emerged, shot him with a revolver, then awaited police. He has been charged with first-degree murder.

Leo Mitchell, 70 Carson, Calif. Despondent over his failing health, the retired aeronautical engineer shot himself with a Colt .45 at his home.

Peter Lamb, 72 Castro Valley, Calif. He had suffered from terminal cancer. He killed himself with a pistol as he sat in his car in a city parking lot.

Roberto Avalos, 23 Hawthorne, Calif. After a heated conversation on a pay phone with an unknown woman, the plant worker shot himself in the head. Before the police arrived, his gold jewelry and gun were stolen.

Willie King Jr., 21 Imperial, Calif. A split with his girlfriend had left the student despondent. Yet his mother said prejudice that her son felt because he was black moved him to shoot himself with a handgun.

Leandrae Cannon, 20 Los Angeles, Calif. . He was at a party in a residence on Crenshaw Boulevard when he was shot with a handgun. Two suspects have been arrested.

Jose Cuellar, 18 Los Angeles, Calif. He was found on a sidewalk at 1:15 a.m., dead of gunshot wounds. Police suspect it was a gang-related shooting.

Otilio Garcia, 27 Los Angeles, Calif. The construction worker's body was found lying in an alley near South Atlantic Boulevard. He had been shot with a handgun. No suspects have been found.

Riley LeBeau, 22 Los Angeles, Calif. A plumber for a television production company, he got into an argument with a close friend and was shot several times.

Robert Meyer, 27 Los Angeles, Calif. He was committing a burglary in a dry-cleaning establishment. The owners caught him. One killed him with a shotgun. The district attorney called it a justifiable homicide.

Reyna Aguirre, 27 Los Angeles County, Calif. The boyfriend of Aguirre's married roommate became enraged at the roommate's desire to visit her jailed husband and started shooting. Aguirre was killed, the married roommate wounded.

Paul Ferazzi, 33 Milpitas, Calif. The electronics technician was depressed over family matters and killed himself with a shotgun in his home. He was found by his father.

Maurice (''Bill'') Duba, 81 Paradise, Calif. The gold miner called a friend to say he was going to commit suicide. A neighbor heard the fatal shot before anyone could help.

; Cesar Dominguez, 24 San Diego, Calif. A laborer idling with friends on a corner, he was hit by bullets from a handgun fired randomly from a passing car. Another person was wounded.

Francisco Lazcano, 18 Stockton, Calif. The Mexican national checked into a motel, had several visitors and was found dead of a gunshot wound in the morning. No suspects have been arrested.

Carl Harper, 63 Colorado Springs, Colo. A retired mental-health professional, he killed himself with a handgun. He was said to have been in poor health.

Lynn Plagman, 37 Colorado Springs, Colo. His wife found him dead of a self-inflicted pistol wound.

Duane Maes, 25 Denver, Colo. During an argument with his wife, the police were called. When they arrived, he told her, ''This is for you,'' and shot himself with a rifle.

Steven Villars, 41 Lafayette, Colo. Depressed and ill, the computer programmer killed himself with a handgun.

Edward Walton, 47 Marion County, Fla. He was shot in the chest with a handgun. His body was found off State Road 42. The county sheriff's office has charged an acquaintance with the murder.

Silivano Borja, 23, and Pedro Reducindo, 34 Wimauma, Fla. After the two migrant farmworkers played a game of stickball at a recreation site near their labor camp, an argument broke out. They started shooting, fatally wounding each other.

Carlton Bean, 28 Moultrie, Ga. He told his family he was going to pick up someone. He was later found lying beside his car, killed by a pistol shot. The death was ruled a suicide, although his family says he had no motive.

Robert Rowell, 31 Roberta, Ga. A construction worker, he got into a quarrel with his girlfriend at his mobile home. He produced a pistol and shot himself.

Gary Chisholm, 18 Savannah, Ga. He got into a bar argument about a girl with a 21-year-old man, who left, returned with a handgun and shot him.

Ronald Black, 33 Woodstock, Ga. As others in a discount-store parking lot watched, the construction worker put an automatic pistol to his head and fired. He was said to be having problems with his wife.

Marian Andino, 34, and Juan Montes, 37 Chicago, Ill. Formerly married to each other, they were still living together, but Andino was planning to move to Puerto Rico at the end of the month. Distraught, Montes shot her with a handgun, then shot himself. Color: Two photographs.

Gean Hammond, 28 Chicago, Ill. After arguing with a woman he knew and her boyfriend about mistreatment of the woman's baby, Hammond took the child home with him. Later her boyfriend shot Hammond.

Aline Houck, 40 Madison County, Ill. She was found face down in a pond, near her car, a gunshot wound in her head. Her death has been called a suicide, but her relatives suspect murder.

Monreco Daniels, 16 Decatur, Ill. He had fought with his girlfriend. She said she would not see him anymore. He used a shotgun on himself at home.

Patrick Hodnik, 31 Waukegan, Ill. He had been threatening suicide for some time and had quarreled with his girlfriend over financial matters. While she and some children were in the house, he killed himself with a shotgun.

Brian Rooney, 40 Westmont, Ill. During a tavern fight, he stabbed another man, who shot him with a revolver. Police considered it a case of self-defense.

Aaron Coleman, 21 Wichita, Kans. A former mental patient, he was shot in a crowded store after pulling a handgun on police who came to check a man-with-a-gun report.

Henry Halley, 67 Lexington, Ky. In an easy chair at home, he shot himself with a pistol he kept in a nearby cabinet. The retired house painter was said to have been depressed.

Clyde Engle, 34 Leslie County, Ky. After target shooting with three other men, the coal miner put a handgun to his head. Saying that the safety was on, he pulled the trigger. His death has been ruled accidental.

Joseph Givens, 46 Metairie, La. The unemployed man was shot by a woman companion after he beat her. The police called it justifiable homicide.

Webster McGuire, 30 New Orleans, La. On the street after midnight, the church volunteer was accosted by a robber who took his money, then shot him with a handgun.

Neko Clark, 19 West Baton Rouge, La. He killed himself with a revolver in his parents' home. He left a note saying he was depressed about his life and his relationship with his girlfriend.

David Smith Jr., 16 Baltimore, Md. A high school dropout, he was shot by a young man who robbed him of his gun during an apparent dispute over drugs. Afterward, his friends spray-painted WE LOVE YOU DAVE on a schoolyard wall.

Carlton Martin, 23 Brockton, Mass. He was shot twice with a handgun on the steps of his home early in the morning. Police believe it was a drug-related murder.

Ronald Kearns, 47 Melrose, Mass. After his wife went upstairs to bed, he stayed in the living room of their house and shot himself with a handgun.

Richard Norman, 56 St. Paul, Minn. On medication for depression, the commercial painter shot himself in his office with a handgun.

Bounnam Thengkham, 20 St. Louis, Mo. He was with a woman when her husband came home. The husband loaded a pistol and shot him twice.

Leonard Johnson, 34 Greenwood, Miss. Leonard Johnson and his lifelong best friend, Melvin Wilson, 35, were at a Greenwood club when Wilson got into a fight with another man. Enraged, Wilson ran to his truck and returned to the fray with a sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun. Clutching the cocked gun in his right hand, he struck out with his left. Someone grabbed Wilson from behind, and the shotgun fired. The charge struck Johnson in the leg, ripping open the main artery. He quickly bled to death. Of Wilson, who was charged with murder, Johnson's younger sister Vera said, ''He was just like a brother.''

Dale Garrett, 50 Nye County, Nev. An escaped Utah prisoner, he fired a handgun at deputies looking for a prowler. He wounded one officer, but another shot him down.

Efren Caballero, 19 Lea County, N. Mex. While celebrating his wife's birthday, the ranch hand from Mexico picked up a shotgun, said, ''See you,'' to his family, then killed himself.

Maurice Davies, 20 Brooklyn, N.Y. The unemployed man was killed on the street at 3:20 a.m. in an apparent argument over drugs.

Jan Gmyrek, 34 Queens, N.Y. The bricklayer picked up a rifle in his home. To a friend, it appeared that he was about to shoot himself. When the friend tried to grab the gun, it discharged. The death was ruled an accident.

Johnny Gomez, 23 New York, N.Y. The cab driver was killed in the early morning by gunfire during an apparent robbery attempt.

Egbert Hodge, 41 The Bronx, N. Y. He was shot at 5:35 a.m. after an argument in the social club he owned.

Roger Jeter, 22 New York, N.Y. He was shot in the stomach in the early hours of the morning in what may have been a dispute over drugs.

Bonnie Santoli, 27 Rochester, N.Y. A housewife with psychiatric problems, she killed herself with a shotgun.

Eric Ford, 20 Roosevelt, N.Y. He was shot through a window with a handgun and a weapon similar to an Uzi. Two suspects who had been turned away from a party at the house have been arrested.

Allen Steel, 24 Defiance, Ohio He was a laborer who shot himself with a pistol for no evident reason.

Robert Lusk, 30 Liberty Township, Ohio A sheet-metal worker, he killed himself with a handgun the day before his divorce was to become final. His wife found his body in their home.

Mark Holderman, 26 Waynesburg, Ohio A machine operator, he killed himself with a shotgun. He had been treated for depression and had threatened suicide. His wife found his body.

Abbott Taylor, 26 Ardmore, Okla. He was shot in the backseat of a car by a man he had met earlier that day. The two had argued about the ownership of a pair of boots.

Daisy Walker, 48 Memphis, Tenn. The board of education secretary was shot by her husband at about 4 a.m. in their home. He then shot himself in the head, causing irreversible brain damage.

William Gillespie, 42, and William Richardson, 67 Nashville, Tenn. Both were found dead near dawn at a known gambling site. Police had no suspects but suggested that the double murder may have resulted from a dispute over gambling debts or cheating in a dice game. Black and white: Two photographs.

Johnny Shelton, 33 Unicoi County, Tenn. / During a family quarrel in a trailer home, the part-time farmhand picked up a hunting rifle and shot himself.

Rodney Connywerdy, 24 Arlington, Texas A Comanche Indian who worked as a printer, he was separated from his wife and had previously threatened suicide to a friend. He shot himself with a handgun.

Manuel Dominguez, 22 Houston, Texas He and his brother, 29, argued over a music tape. The brother fired a pistol, intending, he said, merely to graze the other. Police charged him with murder.

Huriel Garza, 23 Houston, Texas On a park outing to mark the sixth birthday of his girlfriend's daughter, he was shot by her ex-husband. The gunman and his brother were charged.

Ramiro Mejia, 42 Houston, Texas The night watchman was depressed. While his common-law wife and child waited in their truck, he went behind the building where he worked and killed himself with a pistol.

Eric Neely, 14 Houston, Texas At 3:15 a.m., after a night of partying, he died of a wound in the throat, received when a 17-year-old fired three rounds.

Angela Speed, 27 Houston, Texas Three young men were talking to her inside a bar. When the unemployed woman walked them to the door, one of them shot her dead. All three men fled.

Rickie Mumphery, 29 Palestine, Texas The meat-packing-company worker was shot by his wife with a handgun during an argument. She said she shot him to keep him from choking her.

Tollice Williamson, 48 Waco, Texas The self-employed plumber was shot with a ''Saturday-night special'' by his girlfriend, 57. She told police she did it because he would not stop beating her.

Kenneth Reckart, 66 Bruceton Mills, W. Va. The former tavern owner was killed in a drunken dispute with a 26-year-old girlfriend at his home early in the morning. She claims self-defense, but has been indicted for murder.

Richard Walton, 71 Renick, W. Va. He had suffered a stroke recently and was worried about his health. He shot himself in the chest with a handgun.

James Baker, 48 Milwaukee, Wis. Depressed by the breakup of his third marriage, he fired a gun in his apartment. He shot at police and was killed by them.

Tamara Palasz, 16 Caledonia, Wis. The high school student climbed through a window to visit a 16-year-old friend at his home in the early afternoon. They argued. He shot her and has been charged with homicide.

Richard Douglas, 32 Springerville, Wis. The federal-prison comptroller killed himself with a rifle. His wife believes stress on the job caused him to take his own life.