Gunman told his mother he had shot five racists who were bothering him

By Calvin Palmer

In his final phone call to his mother, gunman Omar Thornton told his mother that he had shot five racists who were bothering him. Thornton then killed himself.

Police say Thornton went on the rampage killing eight work colleagues and wounding two others because he had been forced to resign after been caught on video stealing beer from the Connecticut beer distribution center where he worked.

Thornton’s girlfriend said he shared evidence of racial harassment with her — photos of racist bathroom graffiti and a surreptitiously monitored conversation allegedly involving company managers.

Thornton carried two 9 mm handguns to Hartford Distributors, in Manchester, hidden in his lunch box yesterday morning and left a shotgun in his car, police said.

At a disciplinary hearing, he watched video that showed him stealing beer and then resigned after being asked whether he wanted to quit or be fired.

Thornton then asked for a drink of water and went to a kitchenette where his lunch box was. He took out his guns, walked out into the hall and began shooting.

The first people shot were managers or executives involved in Thornton’s firing,” Manchester police Lt Christopher Davis said today.

Thornton left the office area and went into a large section of the warehouse where more victims were found. He chased one or more of them outside into a parking lot, shot a locked glass door to get back into the building and continued shooting.

One man who was fatally shot tried to evade Thornton on a forklift, which crashed into an electrical conduit and started a small fire

Thornton also passed by at least two people and did not shoot them, including one woman in a wheelchair, Davis said.

Finally, Thornton called his mother to say goodbye, said his uncle Wilbert Holliday.

“I shot the racists that was bothering me,” he told his mother.

Police found Thornton dead in an office.

Davis revealed today that the company had hired a private investigator to follow Thornton outside of work for a few weeks after becoming suspicious that he was stealing. The amount of beer Thornton took has not been verified.

The vice president of the company, Steve Hollander, was among those shot. He had been in the disciplinary meeting. Hollander was shot twice but survived.

The dead victims were named as Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington, president of Teamsters 1035 and had been Thornton’s representative at the hearing; Louis Felder, operations director with the company; Doug Scruton, 56; Bill Ackerman, 51; Francis Fazio Jr, 57; Edwin Kennison, 49; Craig Pepin, 60; and Victor James, 60.

Jerome Rosenstein, 77, was wounded and is in a serious condition at Hartford Hospital.

Thornton’s girlfriend of eight years, Kristi Hannah, 26, said he had told her months ago that he was racially harassed, and he showed her photos he took with his cell phone. One was a drawing on a bathroom wall of a stick figure with a noose around the neck and a racial slur.

Another scrawl said the writer hated black people and had Thornton’s name on it, she said.

Brett Hollander, who also works at Hartford Distributors, has denied any charges of racism.

“I can assure you there has never been any racial discrimination at our company,” he said.

Hannah said Thornton gave her a long hug and kiss goodbye on the morning of the shooting. He looked dazed and confused, so she asked him whether something was wrong, but he said no.

“I think he did it because of the racial stuff,” she said, adding that Thornton “said he was very hurt.”

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Disgruntled employee kills eight people and himself in workplace shooting

By Calvin Palmer

A worker who complained about being racially harassed at a family-owned beer and wine wholesaler shot eight of his colleagues this morning before turning the gun on himself.

Omar S. Thornton, 34, was a driver for Hartford Distributors, of Manchester, Connecticut. He shot 10 people with a .223 semi-automatic rifle, killing eight, and then shot himself as police officers approached.

Manchester police said in a statement: “There were nine individuals, including the suspect, who were killed during the shooting. We are presently in the process of trying to identify the victims and make notifications to family members.”

Manchester police Sgt Sandy Ficara confirmed that Omar Thornton was the shooter. Police believe his fatal gunshot wound was self-inflicted, he said.

“It’s one of those workplace scenes that happens all over the country,” he said.

The mother of Thornton’s girlfriend, Kristi Hannah, said that Thornton had complained about being racially harassed but his supervisors did nothing about it.

John Hollis, a Teamsters official, said the union was bringing Thornton in to meet with the company to remedy a problem.

“He started shooting,” said Hollis who declined to describe the nature of the disciplinary problem.

Hollis was not certain if the meeting had taken place when the shooting started around 7:30. At that time, about 35 or 40 people were in the office and warehouse. The shifts were just changing.

Steve Hollander, a member of the family that founded and owns the company, was identified as the tenth victim. He was shot in the neck and wounded.

“Everyone is devastated by this tragic and senseless act,” said Jim Bataglio, a spokesman for the Hollander family.

Steven Hollander is fair condition, he said.

So far two victims of the gun rampage have been identified — Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington, who is the president of the Teamsters Local 1035, which represents drivers at Hartford Distributors; and Victor James, 60, who was planning to retire this year after working for the company for 30 years.

[Based on reports by The Hartford Courant and AFP.]

Three people shot dead at Florida home

By Calvin Palmer

It was just like any other weekday morning for a Florida woman as she left for work today until she was confronted by her ex-boyfriend.

Robin Whitaker, 46, was shot and killed at her home in Deltona and moments later her husband, 48-year-old Charles Whitaker, was shot and mortally wounded.

Johnnie Burke, 51, then turned the gun on himself. He died later Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City.

Neighbors on Otis Avenue said Burke had confronted his former girlfriend on several occasions. He lived just one block away.

Sheriff Ben Johnson of Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said police received a call about 6:30 a.m. reporting shots being fired at the Whitakers’ house.

Burke was facing charges related to marijuana, pills and firearms found in his home. His trial was scheduled for next month.

A friend of Burke, Theresa Casias DeBary, said he had been going with Robin Whitaker for several years before her marriage but was unable to explain today’s violent events.

[Based on a report by The Daytona Beach News-Journal.]

Two killed in shooting at OSU

By Calvin Palmer

An employee at Ohio State University, in Columbus, opened fire in a maintenance building earlier today and shot two co-workers before turning the gun on himself.

Nathaniel Brown, 51, shot and killed 48-year-old building services manager Larry Wallington and wounded operations shift leader Henry Butler, 60.

Brown then shot himself. He was taken to OSU Medical Center where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Butler was also taken to the OSU Medical Center and his condition is described as stable.

Brown, who had been hired in October, arrived for work in dark clothing with two handguns in a backpack, campus Police Chief Paul Denton said.

Denton described the shooting as work-related and said Brown recently received a poor performance evaluation, though he declined to say whether that was the motive.

More than a half-dozen employees were in the maintenance building when the shooting occurred at 3:30 a.m. and have been offered grief counseling, Denton said.

“This is a tragic event, and our hearts go out to all of the families,” said Vernon Baisden, a university assistant vice president of public safety.

The university, with 55,000 students, continued normal operations today.  Classes and work schedules were not affected.

No doubt, there will be much wailing and wringing of hands following this tragic incident but until America gets a grip on the sale of handguns to the general public, these tragedies will continue. But the gun lobby, with its gung-ho attitude born out of watching too many John Wayne films, remains oblivious to the obvious link between needless deaths and the easy availability of guns in the United States.

It is a strange country that makes it so easy to buy a handgun, whose sole purpose is to wound or kill another human being, and so difficult for someone to smoke a cigarette in a public place.

If anyone understands the logic of that situation, do drop me a line. To me, it is madness, sheer madness.

[Based on reports by the Associated Press and Norwalk Reflector.] 

Client shoots father-and-son financial advisers

By Calvin Palmer

A client of a Dallas financial services company expressed his dissatisfaction this morning by shooting the father and son who run the company before turning the weapon on himself.

The 66-year-old Richard Smith and R. Chris Smith, 39, were taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Richard Smith was shot in the legs, and his son was shot in the neck. Their condition is described as stable.

The gunman was also taken to the same hospital. He is in a critical condition. Police have declined to reveal more details about him.

The incident took place at the 19-floor Four Forest office tower on Merit Drive, north Dallas. The building houses the United Texas Bank.

The gunman was a dissatisfied client of the two financial advisers, said Dallas police spokesman Kevin Janse. But it was not clear exactly why the suspect opened fire inside the offices of Smith Financial.

“This individual knew his victims,” Janse said. “He was apparently disgruntled with them or had problems with them.”

An initial call to 911 ended abruptly when the caller hung up. Moments later, police received reports that shots had been fired.

“Officers got there rather quickly, and their quick response may have saved everybody’s life,” Janse said.

The two victims ran and hid after they were shot, and the gunman was looking for them when the first officers arrived. When the gunman pointed his weapon toward the officers, they fired at him but missed.

The gunman then stepped into the office suite where the father and son had their business, and shot himself.

Marcella Cavazos, a lawyer who works on the fourth floor of the building, said she heard five to six shots just before 11:00 a.m.

She said it sounded like the shots had come from the floor below, which is largely occupied by the offices of lawyers and doctors.

“We just heard the shots, and security told us not to leave,” she said.

[Based on reports by The Dallas Morning News and Associated Press.]

Gunman opens fire at St Louis factory killing two workers

By Calvin Palmer

A man armed with an assault rifle opened fire this morning at an electrical engineering company in St Louis, killing two workers and wounding five others.

Police say a third person was found dead and is presumed to be the gunman. They are awaiting a formal identification of the body, believed to be Timothy Hendron, 51, an assembly line worker at the eletrical transformer plant.

Shots were heard at ABB Power, a subsidiary of Swiss-based ABB Ltd, at the start of the morning shift at 6:30. Employees ran to the rooftop to escape the gunfire.

A two-mile area around the plant was cordoned off by police and a section of Interstate 70 closed.

An ABB supervisor told police that Hendron was a disgruntled worker recently laid off. He was a plaintiff in a class-action federal lawsuit against ABB and its pension review committee over financial losses.

Three of the injured workers are in critical condition, while the other two are described as in fair condition.

Police have not issued the names of the victims but friends have identified Cory Wilson and 57-year-old Carlton Carter among the dead.

A friend and neighbor of Hendron, Ronald D. Bartram, said that Hendron has worked for the company for a long time.

Bartram said that he spoke to Hendron just two days ago and nothing was bothering him. He said Hendron is a hunter and has guns.

[Based on reports by The St Louis Post-Dispatch and Reuters.]

Four dead after shooting at Manhattan apartment

By Calvin Palmer

Four men were found dead this afternoon at an apartment in the Upper West Side area of Manhattan.

Police say three of the men were shot to death inside Apartment 3-S on Amsterdam Avenue, between 83rd and 84th Streets.

The victims were identified as three generations from the same family —  a 92-year-old grandfather, his 52-year-old son and 21-year-old grandson, all named Carlos Rodriguez.

The two younger men were discovered dead in a bedroom, and the older man was found lying in the bathroom.

The fourth man, Hector Quinones, was found dead in the backyard and is believed to have fallen while trying to leave the apartment through a back window.

“He may be responsible for the deaths of other three,” said Paul J. Browne, New York Police Department’s chief spokesman.

A semi-automatic pistol was discovered at the scene.

A 49-year-old woman was also injured in the incident and has been taken to St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital where her condition is stable.

Police were alerted around 1:45 and the area was soon swarming with uniformed and plainclothes officers.

Detectives believe the motive for the shootings was drug related. A small amount of cocaine was found inside the apartment as well as on Quinones’ body.

[Based on a reports by The New York Times , Associated Press and New York Daily News.]

Scam artist shot and killed by police officer in Times Square

By Calvin Palmer

A scam artist operating in Times Square, New York, was shot and killed by a plainclothes police officer in an exchange of gunfire that shattered windows in the Broadway theater district.

Raymond Martinez, 25, was believed to be conning tourists along Broadway and 46th Street when he was recognized by a sergeant who works on a task force that monitors aggressive panhandling, said a police source.

When the officer approached, Martinez took off and ran through the Marriott Marquis hotel’s passenger drop-off area.

Martinez allegedly turned and fired with a Mac-10 machine pistol as the officer gave chase. He got off two rounds before the pistol jammed. The officer returned fire, killing the suspect. No one else was injured in the incident.

Bullets hit the ticket box of the Minskoff Theatre, cracking the window.

Kathleen Duffy, a spokeswoman for New York City Marriott Hotels, said the shooting took place in a taxi pickup and drop-off area.

Officers suspected Martinez and another man were working a scam in which they would approach tourists, ask them their names, then write their names on the CDs and demand payment of $10.

Martinez had been wanted for assault in the Bronx, but the officer approached him because he was recognized as an aggressive panhandler.

There were 27 live rounds left in his gun, authorities said.

Duncan Stewart, a Broadway casting director, has a 12th-floor office that overlooks Times Square. He said he was on the phone when he heard three loud pops.

“With the echo, I didn’t quite know what it was, but within five minutes, there were cars, police sirens, cops running,” Stewart said. “It was chaotic.”

He has gotten used to seeing the weird and wacky in Times Sqaure, but almost never anything violent.

“It’s bizarre,” he said. “It’s one thing to see the Naked Cowboy day after day in Times Square, but a shooting is something different altogether.”

[Based on reports by the Associated Press and New York Daily News.]

SWAT team takes “angry” Orlando shooter into custody

By Calvin Palmer

The suspect in a shooting at an office building in downtown Orlando today was arrested this afternoon at his mother’s home.

A SWAT team spotted, Jason Rodriguez and he came out of the residence, at Hollowbrook Apartments, without incident, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings said.

Earlier, 40-year-old Rodriguez is alleged to have killed one person and wounded five others in a shooting at the Gateway Center.

The victims were all employees of Reynolds, Smith & Hill, a construction engineering firm with headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida.

Witnesses told police they recognized Rodriguez when he entered the company’s eighth-floor lobby. They said he pulled a handgun from a holster under his shirt and shot an employee standing next to the receptionist’s desk, killing him. The slain victim, identified by police as 26-year-old Otis Beckford, was hit by at least two bullets. The gunman then went into the common work area and fired several shots, witnesses said, wounding five other employees.

The five wounded people were in stable condition at Orlando hospitals and police say all are expected to survive.

Rodriguez was a former employee of the company.

After his arrest, Rodriguez told reporters he carried out the shooting “because they left me to rot”.

Asked if he was angry at his employer, he said: “No. I’m angry.”

Rodriguez worked on drawings in the firm’s transportation group, but his supervisors said his performance was not up to their standards, and when he did not improve, he was fired. The company did not hear from him again.

“This is really a mystery to us,” said Ken Jacobson, the firm’s general legal counsel and chief financial officer. “There was nothing to indicate any hard feelings.”

He did not know why Rodriguez would say the company had left him “to rot.”

“It’s been two-and-a-half years,” Jacobson said. “We don’t know where he’s been or what he’s done.”

Rodriguez told detectives that the company had fired him without cause and had made him look incompetent. He told them he was unemployed for a year and a half before getting a job at Subway, where worked until recently.

He told them the shop was unable to give him enough hours, and he later filed for unemployment. He expected to get a check recently but when it failed to arrive he blamed Reynolds, Smith and Hills, thinking it was harming his efforts to qualify, police said. He told them he could no longer support his family. Police said he then invoked his right to remain silent.

Rodriguez recently told a bankruptcy judge he was making less than $30,000 a year at a Subway sandwich shop and owed nearly $90,000. His former mother-in-law suggested he was plagued by money woes.

Les Winograd, a spokesman Subway Restaurants, said Rodriguez had worked for one of the sandwich shops in the Orlando area until six weeks ago. He would not say whether Rodriguez had left or was fired.

Police say he will be charged with first-degree murder and other crimes. Officials said he could make an initial court appearance tomorrow.

[Based on a report by the Orlando Sentinel and Associated Press.]

Shooting in downtown Orlando office building leaves two dead

By Calvin Palmer

A gunman opened fire in an office building in downtown Orlando this morning, killing two people and wounding 17 others.

Orlando Police named the suspect as Jason Rodriguez, 40. He is believed to be driving a silver, 2002 Nissan SUV with tag number D11UXR.

Rodriguez is a former employee of Reynolds, Smith & Hill, a transportation consulting firm, with headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. The shootings took place in the firm’s Orlando office in the Legions Place building.

“We understand the shootings did take place in our office,” company spokesman Ken Jacobson said. “People were shot in our offices.”

Police believe Rodriguez is still in the area and armed.

Bodies were found on the 12th and 8th floor of the  16-floor building north of Colonial Drive in the downtown area.

Workers have barricaded themselves inside their offices.

“We’ve got everybody in one office, with the door barricaded with a chest of drawers. There are about 20 of us in here. We’re scared,” said one woman who did not want to be named.

“We’re watching TV, trying to see what is going on, but we really don’t know. We’re scared. We’re safe right now, but we’re scared,” she said.

Roads in downtown Orlando have been blocked off by police and businesses have been evacuated.

[Based on a report by the Orlando Sentinel.]