Bertucci subsequently loaded the .30-caliber M1917 Browning machine gun on the tower and fired at the tents of the sleeping prisoners.

Military officers forwent a court-martial on account of insanity and he was sent to Mason General Hospital in New York for an undisclosed amount of time.

It was a simple complex: forty-three tents with wooden floors, an officer's quarters, and three guard towers around the perimeter.

The Germans had been sent there to help with the harvest of sugar beets and other produce, and, according to Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune, were well-behaved and friendly to the locals.

[4][5][3] Soldiers unfit for front line service, such as those with behavioral problems, were typically assigned to guard duty at the camp.

After five years of service, including one tour to England with an artillery unit, Bertucci seemed to be incapable of being promoted and also had a "discipline problem".

[7] He stopped at a café on Main Street to have some coffee and to speak with a waitress, telling her "something exciting is going to happen tonight", before reporting for guard duty back at the camp.

[8] After the midnight changing of the guard, Bertucci waited for the previous watch to go to bed, before he climbed up the guard tower nearest to the officer's quarters, loaded the .30-caliber M1917 Browning machine gun that was mounted at the position, and opened fire on the tents of sleeping Germans.

Moving the gun back and forth, Bertucci hit thirty of the forty-three tents before being removed from the tower by another soldier.

[4][5][6] The victims were:[12] The Piqua Daily Call reported, "Clarence V Bertucci was under mental observation today [July 10] after admitting that he sprayed gun bullets on a group of war prisoners while they slept, killing eight and wounding 19 because he 'just didn't like Germans'.

"[13] An article from the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune reported that Bertucci showed no remorse about the shooting at a hearing conducted shortly after the massacre.

[7] A July 23, 1945, article from Time stated, Ninth Service Command officers admitted that Bertucci's record already showed two courts-martial, one in England.

[2]Although there were rumors that Bertucci committed the murders in order to avenge the death of a loved one in Europe, his mother confirmed this was false.

"[11]: 224 Immediately following the attack, Bertucci was placed under guard at Ninth Service Command headquarters at Fort Douglas.

His army record revealed that he had been punished for three offenses: once for being absent from his post, once for refusing to go on guard duty, and once for missing a train.

Owens claimed there was no evidence that Bertucci had been drinking or was unfit for duty and as a result, the act was calculated and of murderous intent.