April 2

What happened that day?

• 2015: Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
• 2014: A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
• 2012: A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.
• 2006: Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
• 2004: Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 [Madrid](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid) attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
• 2002: Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
• 1992: Forty-two civilians were massacred in the town of Bijeljina.
• 1992: In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
• 1991: Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.
• 1989: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
• 1986: Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.
• 1982: Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
• 1980: United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
• 1979: A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
• 1975: Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
• 1973: Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
• 1972: Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
• 1956: As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS-TV. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
• 1930: After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1921: The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
• 1917: World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
• 1912: The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.
• 1911: The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census.
• 1902: "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
• 1902: Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg.
• 1900: The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
• 1885: Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.
• 1865: American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.
• 1863: American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.
• 1851: Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
• 1801: French Revolutionary Wars: The British capture the Danish fleet.
• 1800: Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.
• 1792: The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.
• 1755: Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
• 1513: Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida.
• 670: The second Shia Imam Hassan ibn Ali passes away after being poisoned