According to both Fox News and CNN in a still-developing story, a soon-to-be-fired disgruntled worker at a beer distributor has killed at least one person and wounded two. Details are sketchy at best, with various reports of the number of wounded and just how many people are dead. Hartford Distributors is one of Connecticut’s largest beer and wine distributors. The perp, a recently-hired driver for the company, had been called in for a meeting with management and union officials to discuss “a disciplinary problem.” Other reports say he was being called in for a termination meeting. Apparently, one of the wounded is a member of the family who owns the distributorship.

There’s no indication – yet – if alcohol played a role in this tragedy other than the setting for the crime. More details here, as soon as we get them.

UPDATE (from wtnh.com):

John Hollis, a spokesman for the union at the beer company, says the gunman, a driver at the company, was hired about a year ago and was headed in today to face a disciplinary hearing.

About 50 to 70 people were in the warehouse because it was a shift change, said Brett Hollander, the director of marketing at Hartford Distributors.

“We’re now just trying to figure out who’s shot, who’s not accounted for,” he said.

Hollander’s cousin, a vice president at the company, was shot in the arm and the face, Hollander said, but he thought he would be OK. It was not clear if he was among the victims taken to Hartford Hospital. Hollander, whose family owns the distributor, said he did not know the shooter well and didn’t know how long he had worked there.

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1 COMMENT

  1. This is statistically insignificant, too, but the LA Times reports eight dead.

    Thornton shot a number of people and then shot himself with a .223 caliber semiautomatic rifle as police approached and is dead, sources said. Two were shot outside the building and five were shot inside, police sources said.

    Hollis declined to describe the nature of the disciplinary problem, and he said he wasn’t certain if the meeting had taken place when the shooting started.

    Joanne Hannah, who lives in Thornton’s Enfield neighborhood, said her daughter Kristi had dated Thornton for eight years. Thornton, who is black, had complained about being racially harassed at work. Hannah said Thornton brought his complaints to his superiors, who did nothing about it, she said her daughter told her.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/hc-omar-thornton-workplace-shooting-020100803,0,5739143.story

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