Assistant Superintendent Hugh Lucas Johnson

Hugh Lucas Johnson

Assistant Superintendent Hugh Johnson and Corrections Employee James Vanneter were stabbed to death while working at the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond.

The 30-year-old inmate, who was serving a life sentence for a murder conviction in 1952, had created an 8-inch shank out of a large file. He was working in the clothing shop when he suddenly ran to the superintendent's office and stabbed a clerk in the stomach, wounding him. He then ran to the industrial shop where he stabbed Superintendent Johnson in the stomach and chest.

Superintendent Johnson succumbed to his wounds the following day.

After stabbing Superintendent Johnson, the inmate ran to the prison hospital where he stabbed the prison doctor, and Corrections Employee James Vanneter, in the face, arm, and chest, before being subdued by correctional officers.

The inmate, charged with two counts of murder, was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was released from prison in 1970 after the Virginia Supreme Court overturned his 1952 murder conviction. On December 30, 1971, he shot and killed two men in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life. He died in prison on May 16, 2002.