MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT, USA – AUGUST 3, 2010 34-year-old Omar Sheriff Thornton opened fire inside a warehouse belonging to Hartford Distributors, a beer wholesale distribution company. During the attack, he shot and killed eight of his coworkers and wounded two other men. He then turned the gun on himself and died at the scene.
Omar Sheriff Thornton
Thornton worked for the company as a delivery driver and warehouse worker. On the day of the attack, he was called into a disciplinary meeting over suspected beer thefts captured by security cameras. Management offered him the option of resigning voluntarily or being fired. Shortly after signing the resignation papers and being escorted out of the office, he pulled a handgun concealed inside a lunch box and opened fire.
The eight employees who were shot and killed were Francis Joseph Fazio (57), Douglas A. Scruton (56), Edwin LeRoy Kennison (49), William Carl Ackerman (51), Bryan Cirigliano (51), Craig A. Pepin (60), Louis Jeffrey Felder (50), and Victor Thomas James (60). Two others were wounded: Steven Hollander (50), one of the company’s managers, and 77-year-old Jerome Rosenstein.
During the attack, Thornton called his mother and later also dialed the 911 emergency number. He claimed that he had been subjected to racial discrimination at work and justified his actions by citing alleged racist abuse from his coworkers. However, the investigation found no evidence supporting his allegations, and neither the company nor union representatives had previously received any official complaints of racial discrimination.
After police arrived, Thornton took shelter inside an office, where he continued communicating with an emergency dispatcher. Before officers could intervene, he shot himself. The attack left a total of nine people dead, including the shooter, and two others wounded.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford_Distributors_shooting
