At first, I thought the third sentence was incorrect, but then I read it a little more closely. Now, I'm not entirely sure.
It was not the first time someone suggested that punitive measures awaited my procreative ways.
Past-perfect is necessary to differentiate between two different periods of time in the same context. It seems to me that "suggested" as-is could be correct, because although the speaker discusses how "punitive measures awaited my procreative ways," that's something that the "punitive measures" are doing separately, not something that the speaker is doing. Not to mention the fact that the suggestions, according to the speaker, are ongoing, not a one-time event, so there isn't a clear way to establish which one of those things happened first.
That was not the first time someone has needed me.
I believe the reason the speaker uses "has" instead of "had" here is because they used "that" to refer to the instance in which someone needed him or her, instead of "it" as in the previous sentences.
It was not the first time someone had fired at Eric while he walked to school.
This one is relatively simple. It is a little strange because one might think that someone firing at Eric happens after he begins walking to school, which would mean that the sentence is wrong to use "had" before "fired," but actually the firing occurs before Eric finishes walking to school, therefore the "had fired."
Hope this helps -- I'm not completely sure on this one myself.