Everyone was lying dead on the pavement

Camden Courier-Post, September 7, 1974

Newspaper clipping: Carl Sorg recalls the day of the Howard Unruh shooting, Camden Courier-Post, September 7, 1974
Camden Courier-Post, September 7, 1974
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‘Everyone was lying dead on the pavement. What a sight.’ CARL SORG was a teenager at the time of the shooting. He was inside his house a half a block away from the carnage. He may have been one of Unruh’s intended targets. Today he is a roofer and lives about two blocks away from his old home. “I was about 17 and I went to work that morning but came right home. I had been up late the night before and didn’t feel good. I was lying on a couch in the living room and my brother came in and said a dog had been hit down at the corner. He saw a cop car and that what he thought. “I went down to the corner and saw the druggist, Cohen lying in the driveway and his son, Charlie Cohen was screaming out the window. Everyone was lying dead on the pavement. What a sight. “When I found out it was Howard, I was just surprised. I knew him...Some say they knew him well but I doubt it. He was the type that never held a conversation. I never heard him say more than three words to anybody. He kept to himself. “But one time he was angry at me. I used to bunk (hang around) in the vacant store below his (Unruh’s) apartment. In fact, I used to collect the rent sometimes for the owner, Mr. Hoover. I sold Christmas trees from the store and I tapped into Mrs. Unruh’s electric line in the basement. Howard told me about it. He didn’t like it. I heard a few months after the shooting, that he was after me because of the incident. I don’t know if it’s true.”

‘Everyone was lying dead on the pavement. What a sight.’

CARL SORG was a teenager at the time of the shooting. He was inside his house a half a block away from the carnage. He may have been one of Unruh’s intended targets. Today he is a roofer and lives about two blocks away from his old home.

“I was about 17 and I went to work that morning but came right home. I had been up late the night before and didn’t feel good. I was lying on a couch in the living room and my brother came in and said a dog had been hit down at the corner. He saw a cop car and that what he thought.

“I went down to the corner and saw the druggist, Cohen lying in the driveway and his son, Charlie Cohen was screaming out the window. Everyone was lying dead on the pavement. What a sight.

“When I found out it was Howard, I was just surprised. I knew him...Some say they knew him well but I doubt it. He was the type that never held a conversation. I never heard him say more than three words to anybody. He kept to himself.

“But one time he was angry at me. I used to bunk (hang around) in the vacant store below his (Unruh’s) apartment. In fact, I used to collect the rent sometimes for the owner, Mr. Hoover. I sold Christmas trees from the store and I tapped into Mrs. Unruh’s electric line in the basement. Howard told me about it. He didn’t like it. I heard a few months after the shooting, that he was after me because of the incident. I don’t know if it’s true.”

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