1981Oct, 20
Two police officers and an armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery in Rockland County, New York, carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground.
The 1981 Brink's robbery was an armed robbery and three related murders committed on October 20, 1981, which were carried out by several Black Liberation Army members and four former members of the Weather Underground, now belonging to the May 19th Communist Organization, consisting of David Gilbert, Judith Alice Clark, Kathy Boudin, and Marilyn Buck.They stole $1.6 million in cash from a Brink's armored car at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York, killing a Brink's guard, Peter Paige, seriously wounding Brink's guard Joseph Trombino, slightly wounding Brink's truck driver guard, James Kelly, subsequently killing two Nyack police officers, Edward O'Grady and Waverly Brown, and seriously wounding Police Detective Artie Keenan. Trombino recovered from the wounds he received in this incident but was killed in 2001 in the September 11 attacks.
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Events on 1981
- 20Jan
Iran hostage crisis
Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, Iran releases 52 American hostages. - 27Apr
Computer mouse
Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse. - 27Jun
Mao Zedong
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong. - 7Jul
Sandra Day O'Connor
U.S. President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. - 15Sep
Sandra Day O'Connor
The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States