A DISGRUNTLED worker who was facing dismissal from his workplace yesterday killed at least eight people and then shot himself at a Connecticut beer distributor.
Police in the town of Manchester, said Omar Thornton, 34, believed to be a driver at the company, opened fire after he was summoned for a disciplinary hearing to discuss his dismissal at Hartford Distributors, a family-owned beer distributor.
The authorities were attempting to determine the scale of the killings but said they believed nine people, including the gunman, were dead.
Witnesses said Thornton ran through the warehouse shortly after 7am local time when scores of drivers and other workers were inside during a shift change.
Sgt Sandy Ficara, of the Manchester police department, called it “a crazy scene out there”.
John Hollis, of the Connecticut Teamsters union, told the New York Times he had watched as “all hell broke loose”.
“He pulled the gun and ran through the warehouse,” he said.
Some workers hid under desks as Thornton opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle. At least two were shot dead as they ran from the warehouse. The building was on fire, although the cause was not immediately clear.
Police said they ordered Thornton to drop his gun, but it appears he shot himself. Officials said the police did not open fire.
The authorities said Thornton was suspected of stealing from the business and had been asked to resign. However, according to the Hartford Courant, a local newspaper, Thornton, an African American, may have been angry over what he viewed as racial discrimination at the company.
The paper quoted Joanne Hannah as saying her daughter had dated Thornton for eight years, and he had complained about being racially harassed at work.
Among the victims is Victor James, a grandfather who would have turned 60 later this month and was planning to retire this year. James’s mother, Gloria Wilson, 86, told the Courant that when she heard of the shooting she was anxious about her son.
“I just got praying he wasn’t one of them, and he was,” she said.
– (Guardian Service)