At Least 3 Dead In Workplace Shooting In Manchester Connecticut

At Least 3 Dead In Workplace Shooting In Manchester

www.wqad.com

At least three people are dead and at least three injured in a workplace shooting in Manchester at Hartford Distributors.

State Police said Omar Thomas, the suspect, shot himself as police approached and is dead. The suspect was an employee, the marketing director of the company said, before police identified Thomas.

A firefighter on duty said there were three people dead, but it was unknown whether the shooter was included in that number.

(visit the link for the full news article)





Mod Edit: Title clarification.

[edit on 6/8/10 by JAK]

I had not heard of one of these for some time now, but looks like they are back.

Horrible loss of life.

At least 3 dead is being reported at this time, but I just heard on Fox News that they are withholding comment on any more.

I also just heard the local Fire Chief interviewed and he would not commit as to the shooter being killed as well..

Lots more to come on this I am sure..

www.wqad.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

update:

Motive

The suspect was described by John Hollis, a Teamsters Union
official, as a recent hire who worked as a driver. He described the
suspect as a "disciplinary problem" and "the union was bringing him
in to meet with the company to remedy the problem. He started
shooting," Hollis said.

from the op link

Just out of curiousity, is this Manchester, England or Manchester/any state USA.

I can't get onto the link page as its blocked at work.

reply to post by Bun-G


Manchester Connecticut

reply to post by semperfortis


Perhaps the thread title could be changed to clarify exactly which country this has happened in? For a moment there I thought this had happened in the UK.

reply to post by SpectreDC


Thanks SpectreDC

I know work can drive you to madness & there have been times when I've wanted to kill a boss, but that's not on.

I'll say a prayer to the families of the dead tonight

My uncle works there, luckily he hadn't gone into work yet by the time this happened.

Still very scary stuff though, I was relieved to see his wife's facebook status letting everybody know he was safe. I haven't gotten a chance to talk to him yet, if I can get any details the news left out I'll be sure to post them here.

Originally posted by SpectreDC
reply to post by Bun-G

 

Manchester Connecticut

Yhea I was gonna say, even reading the report you have to check for clues like the language used and words like interstate to confirm it's in America.

That would be huge news here because Manchester is one of the major cities in the UK and of course gun crime is usually big news anyway.

Serious higher reasoning disability.

Union-style disciplinary action against my performance as a truck driver versus murder/suicide.

Yeah. That ones tough to weigh.

It's like those lunatic teens who assault/kill/poison their parents over having their video games taken away or assault/kill/poison their peers over name-calling.

Apparently Mr. Thomas was reluctant to to take his removal from this job? It sounds like he was going to get fired after the post by boondock-saint.
People seem to be under a lot of strain now and apparently the suspect would rather kill himself than take a chance on another job hunt? It is hell out there.

Jobs are few and it seems none of the businesses are hiring? Furthermore, it has been reported that corporations have been sitting on mountains of money.

Companies pile up cash but remain hesitant to add jobs

Corporate America is hoarding a massive pile of cash. It just doesn't want to spend it hiring anyone.

Nonfinancial companies are sitting on $1.8 trillion in cash, roughly one-quarter more than at the beginning of the recession. And as several major firms report impressive earnings this week, the money continues to flow into firms' coffers.

Perhaps, the companies above are hoarding the cash for relocation expenses when the tax increases come next year? Some have predicted that they will be the highest in US history. When the taxes come they will get the heck out of dodge and relocate operations anywhere but here.

The incident in Manchester is certainly not an isolated one and I see it increasing as this downward cycle continues. In the past few years there have been an escalation in melee killings. As far as I am concerned, it seems their is a massive scuttling of the economy taking place in this country? Before you know it the US will be like Zimbabwe or Argentina after their collapse. Moreover, the quality of life could be reduced to third world conditions with low wages and high taxes.


[edit on 3-8-2010 by Jakes51]

It's been updated to nine dead now. The shooter is one of the dead. The guy had worked there for a couple of years and was asked to resign. I guess he just snapped at the thought of being unemployed with the job market what it is today.

MANCHESTER, Conn. – A warehouse driver who was asked to resign his job at a beer distributor went on a shooting rampage Tuesday morning that left nine people dead, including himself, and others wounded, company and state officials said.

My sympathies go out to the victims families.

Link to updated story....

news.yahoo.com...

There are many discrepancies from the media accounts:

www.courant.com...
...Omar S. Thornton, 34, was a driver for Hartford Distributors and was described by a Teamsters Union official as a recent hire....."

Other sources said he had been working there two years at least.


www.courant.com...
Thornton... shot himself with a .223 caliber semiautomatic rifle as police approached and is dead, sources said.

Now they say he had a handgun.


www.courant.com...
Two people were shot outside the building and five were shot inside, police sources said.

All the initial reports said there were seven casualties, with three dead.  Then all of a sudden it was nine dead.


www.courant.com...
The East Hartford police tactical response team was training at 7:33 a.m., when the department received a general call for help, said Officer Hugo Benettieri, police spokesman. As a result, the neighboring department was one of the first police agencies at the scene. The team helped with "building entry," he said.

Wow, the first people on scene were SWAT dudes who just happened to be suited up, ready, and waiting.  Though of course its all just a coincidence.


www.courant.com...
Shortly after the shooting, a thick column of black smoke could be seen coming from the building. It later turned to white, then stopped as firefighters were on the scene. The fire was caused by a forklift that tipped over when its operator was shot, a law enforcement source said.

The forklift story has been dropped.  So what caused this fire?


www.wfsb.com...
Multiple workers of Hartford Distributors were shot inside the business at about 7 a.m., police said. ...Police said Thornton was found fatally shot inside the building around 8:15 a.m.

Yet the shooting lasted only a couple of minutes? What was happening all that time?


www.registercitizen.com...
In the press conference on News Channel 8 it was stated that Thornton was shot by police in a field outside the building, he was surrounded and refused to put down his weapon.

Police now say they didn't fire any shots.


www.cnn.com... Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_mostpopular+%28RSS%3A+Most+Popular%29
Hannah and relatives of Thornton said the suspected gunman called his mother Tuesday morning and said he had shot five people.

Well, I guess that seals the question of guilt.  Or maybe it's voice mimicking technology.


news.yahoo.com...
A police sharpshooter had approval to fire on Thornton when he killed himself, an official with knowledge of the scene told the AP.

We are told the body of the gunman was found inside the building.  Apparently he situated himself in front of a big window or something.


www.ksl.com...
State police found weapons in the suspect's car, Montminy said, without providing details.

Additional weapons, ammo, or bombs are always found in the perp's car or domicile.  This is so that you 'connect the dots' pointing to his guilt.


I wonder if this isn't just the latest installment of the American Gladio series.

It is now up to nine (9) people dead in the upstate Connecticut suburb. Connecticut has some stringent gun laws, some of the worst in the nation, so I can only imagine what kind of knee-jerk reaction the state government will have. Can the laws become more restrictive? Sadly, I'm sure they can and more importantly, I'm sure they will.

--airspoon

reply to post by starviego


I was a bit shocked to wake up this morning to reports of the handgun he used when all day yesterday it was ".223 rifle" which in itself is bizarre because chances are a ".223 rifle" is some AR variant and the media never misses a chance to start railing on about those "EBR's" or "assault rifles" but they werent doing that this time. Sure there are plenty of other rifles in .223 but nine times out of ten it's an AR variant. Still if it wasnt the media has called Mini-14's "assault rifles" before.

First he waltzed in with a rifle then it became sneaked a handgun in his lunchbox.

im not condoning the loss of life here, but instances like this need to serve a purpose and teach you, me, and everyone around us a very valuable lesson.

Stop #($*ing with people.

Just stop it.

There's no need for name calling. There's no need for unnecessary disciplinary action. We've all worked jobs where our bosses were major pains in the ass and seemed like they were hell bent on screwed us over at every pass.

No matter how hard we worked

We've all been victim of unjust ridicule and embarrassment.

Yes, all of that is true.


But it is, all of it, uncalled for.

You can't stop lunatics from going into a crowded place and killing people.

But you can treat your fellow human being with the smalled amount of respect to just leave them the hell alone and look the other way.

I always here people say "well, im not insane, i wouldnt' do that"

Really? You're not insane? These are the same kinds of people that I see making fun of someone less fortunate or less capable.

Wake up and stop screwing with people.

reply to post by Snarf


From what I've read the disciplinary action came about because of the guys repeated theft of product. This "racial discrimination" stuff still hasnt come out with any proof other than family/friends hearsay as far as I know.

Besides, being harassed isnt a viable excuse for this sort of thing. Nor is harassment a proven cause of this sort of thing. Often harassment may be one excuse of many.

I've suffered retaliations both overtly violent and passive aggressive just for making eye contact with a stranger on the street or waving hello to another jogger out for a morning lap.

Sometimes people are just broken lunatics and there isnt anything to blame or any way to fix them. They came off the line defective.

More anomalies in the media's account:



www.cnn.com...#
--The first 9-1-1 call came in at 7:26 a.m., Davis said

WFSB
Thornton's mother told CNN affiliate WFSB that she received a phone call from him shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday.

If the shooter called his mother after shooting at least five people, and this happened shortly after 7am, why did the first 911 calls come in about 20 minutes later?

And if people dialed 911 right away, and if the cops got there within minutes as they claim, and if they entered right away, why did it take so long to get to the shooter?:

www.courant.com...
In total, Lt. Davis said, the incident took about 45 minutes.

www.wfsb.com...
--Police said Thornton was among the nine dead, and that his body was found inside the warehouse about two hours after the initial gunfire broke out.



The 'forklift did it' story regarding the origon of a strange fire in the warehouse which broke out right after the shootings ended has been resurrected, albeit it three different versions:

www.cnn.com...#
--One of those killed was attempting to escape from the gunfire and drove a forklift into an electrical conduit, starting an electrical fire....

bristolpress.com...
Firefighters from the town and the 8th Utilities District also responded admirably, he said... extinguishing a blaze in the warehouse set off by a forklift’s propane tank that had been shot.

www.wtnh.com...
The driver of a forklift was also killed. The forklift tipped over and hit a propane tank, which started a small fire.



All the stories about the perp shooting a .223 cal semi-automatic rifle have been shelved, though it's anybody's guess as to whether such a weapon was found in his vehicle:

www.wtnh.com...
Police say Thornton had two 9mm guns in his lunchbox, as well as a rifle in his vehicle.

www.cnn.com...#
Police also found a shotgun in Thornton's vehicle, but believe it was not used in the shootings...



The police now allude to one person being shot outside of the building, but early indication were that many of the victims were found outside:

www.woio.com...
Teamster official John Hollis... said employees were shot both inside and outside the business. He said victims were found throughout the office, warehouse and loading docks.
CBS News Correspondent Ben Tracy reports from Manchester, Conn., that as employees were loading beer onto trucks Thornton ran along the loading platform selectively shooting, killing some and sparing others.

www.wfsb.com...
Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Len Besthoff reported from the scene that a woman said her husband, who works in the building, called her at about 7:20 a.m. to tell her about the shooting. The woman said her husband hid outside during the gunfire, and was uninjured.
The woman said her husband estimated about 20 rounds were fired.... . The man said he saw about five or six people injured.

How can someone outside see five or six injured on the inside of the building?



bristolpress.com...
“The building had yet to be secured, the state police major crimes squad had yet to enter the building, and we had at least five people who were dead inside that we had no identification on,” Montminy said...

This strikes a false note. How many people go and drive to work everyday without carrying their IDs?



In addition there was these odd notes:

www.cnn.com...#
-- The company had had a private investigator follow Thornton in an effort to determine whether he was taking the alcohol, (Connecticut police Lt. Chris Davis) said.
(presumably sometime before the shooting)


media2.wtnh.com...(-W(GL4%102211525).WAV
cop on 911 tape is heard saying "Yes, she is deceased" when there were no female victims.

(Media said the cops released 'some' of the 911 tapes. But why not all of them?)






















[edit on 4-8-2010 by starviego]

[edit on 4-8-2010 by starviego]

[edit on 4-8-2010 by starviego]

Multiple eyewitnesses implicate Thornton in this crime. Yet witnesses also saw a shooter with a rifle, and gave conflicting descriptions of the clothing he was wearing. Early reports said a suspect had been shot by police outside the building, and then said the lone gunman's body was found inside the building. And bodies were found in different parts of the sprawling facility. The gunman himself only claimed five victims in a recorded phone call, yet 10 were shot. As there is often evidence of additional yet unreported gunmen in other suspicious shootings, I have to wonder if we have the same thing here. Some, but not all, of the 911 emergency tapes have been released. What is on the rest of them that they can't be made public?

And how about the rest of the evidence that would prove he was there?

There are video cameras all over that building. Have you seen the video of this event? Can all the slugs pulled from the bodies of the dead and wounded be matched to the two pistols he allegedly used? Are his fingerprints on the murder weapon? Did his hands have gunshot residue on them? How many bullets were fired to achieve such a high death toll? How many times was each victims shot and where? Where are all the interviews with the witnesses?

Almost certainly, there is a shrink, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use, somewhere in this guy's background. There always is.

And there is a good possibility this guy was a military veteran.

The only surprise is the FBI hasn't popped up in this investigation. But I'll bet they are there.

Originally posted by Bun-G
I know work can drive you to madness...

At least you do. Most see work as a good thing.

Even the Japanese have a term for "death from overwork" - Karōshi. Some probably believe it's even an honour to die that way.

[edit on 6/8/10 by NuclearPaul]