Sylvia Seegrist

You know, it’s ironic that people who are irrational are expected under the law to get help on their own. There needs to be something in the law that compels a troubled person to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist. In the 1950s, we were institutionalizing people who weren’t mentally ill. You could institutionalize someone who was just unruly. We’ve gone from one extreme to the other.

Seegrist's actions helped spur the state government to form a legislative task force, in order to address better ways to care for the mentally ill in the community. Seegrist's mother also urged legislators to make changes to the state mental health laws. The existence or nature of changes made by the task force is unknown. In response to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Seegrist's mother Ruth told The Philly Post:

"It's her illness," said Ruth Seegrist, 67 (2002), "She's schizophrenic and psychotic and becomes extremely paranoid. She dwells on things in the past. Since I was her closest family member, I got blamed: She did what she did because of me!" Seegrist's Muncy Prison counselor meets her at least every two weeks. Her counselor notes that Sylvia takes her meds, spends time at the library, exercises a lot and takes steps to keep herself sharp.

Sylvia Seegrist's precursor to the shooting was due to her fear that her mother was trying hard to have her sent to a mental care facility again. She said that she would "rather die or go to prison than go to a mental hospital." Ruth Seegrist said she had seen A Beautiful Mind, a 2001 biographical drama film about John Nash, a Princeton math professor and Nobel laureate who also was schizophrenic. "I thought it was very well done," Seegrist said. "When a person is so delusional – at first he thought it all was real, but it really was in his mind." Ruth Seegrist said "I really believe she belongs in the forensic unit of a hospital, not in prison," she also shared "They should be incarcerated in the forensic unit of a hospital ... until they get functional and stabilized.

At the time of the shootings, gun buyers were required to sign a paper application declaring they had no record of being in a mental institution. Sylvia Seegrist lied on the application and purchased a .22 semi-automatic rifle for $107.00. In 1998, the state of Pennsylvania enacted the Pennsylvania Instant Check System or PICS, enabling licensed gun dealers to conduct a background check using a phone.

Prior to the competency hearing Seegrist was transferred to Norristown State Hospital for evaluation. On March 6, 1986, Seegrist was deemed competent to stand trial for the killings. Found guilty, but insane, she was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences (one for each victim she killed) and seven consecutive 10-year terms (one for each victim she wounded). The judge had said that Seegrist "should spend the rest of her life in some form of incarceration". She was sent to the psychiatric specialty hospital Mayview State Hospital for evaluation and was eventually moved to the State Correctional Institution in Muncy, Pennsylvania.

On the first of two trips to the Springfield Mall on the day of October 30, 1985 Seegrist shopped for Halloween items at a party store. She then worked out at a fitness club, before returning to the mall for the last time.

When she was of age, Seegrist attempted to enlist in the U.S. Army. As she was being inducted, she faced harassment from other members of her platoon, who assumed she was a lesbian; they set her up on a prank date and made her the butt of many jokes thereafter. Seegrist spent a good deal of time at the Springfield Mall, harassing customers and making statements about how "good" other spree killings were, such as the 1984 San Ysidro McDonald's massacre. She was discharged from the Army after two months because of her unusual behavior, which included sitting fully dressed in green fatigues at the spa and sauna of her fitness club. An instructor at the fitness club said "she hated everyone and would often talk about shooting and killing people".

Sylvia Wynanda Seegrist (born July 31, 1960) is an American woman who on October 30, 1985, opened fire at a shopping mall in Springfield, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Seegrist killed three people and wounded seven others before being disarmed by a man who was shopping at the mall. The individuals killed included two men and a two-year-old boy.