NINJA NUT JOB

TRUE NINJA CRIME









REVENGE OF THE NINJA ’ BAFFLES VIRGINIA POLICE
Philadelphia Daily News (PA) - October 29, 1984
Author: United Press International
Police may turn to a psychiatrist for clues on why a man obsessed with the movie " Revenge of the Ninja " donned the garb of an Oriental warrior and killed two people before turning his submachine gun on himself.

Police say Gregory Eley, 24, dressed in his black "Ninja" outfit and armed with an arsenal of weapons, gunned down Arlene Jones, 47, and Wayne Massey, 42, a friend, Friday night at Jones’ fashionable Dutch colonial home.

Two boys hiding upstairs heard Eley cry out for God’s forgiveness before he pressed the Israeli-made Uzi submachine gun to his chest and pulled the trigger, hitting himself twice, said police Detective Sylvia Kaiser.


Kaiser said Jones was shot numerous times, while Massey was shot "a couple of times" in the neck. All three were dead when police arrived.

Authorities who found Eley’s body said he was armed with the submachine gun, two crossbows, a .45-caliber automatic pistol and three Oriental battle stars. He had blackened his face and pulled a mask over it.

Police say the motive for the killings may have been revenge for a soured real estate deal - Eley, his wife and three children had been evicted from their home last week - but they are considering seeking a psychiatrist’s opinion about why Eley "did the thing the way he did."

Annette Eley told investigators her husband watched " Revenge of the Ninja " often.

"His wife said he watched it as often as he could and really got involved in it," Kaiser said. "Evidently, he went out and bought the costume. When and where we do not know."

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