08/04/2010 // WPB, FL, USA // Nicole Howley // Nicole Howley
Hartford, CT—A disgruntled employee, who was asked to resign from his job at a beer distributing company, viciously gunned down eight people on Tuesday, August 3, 2010. The shooting took place at Hartford Distributors, about 10 miles east of Hartford, at around 7 a.m., as reported by MSNBC.
The shooter shot and killed eight people, before wounding others and then turning the gun on himself. Police officials identified the shooter as 34-year-old Omar Thornton, who was a warehouse driver for the beer distributor.
According to officials, Thornton was asked to resign for stealing. Thornton reportedly worked for the distributor for a couple of years, before he was called in for the disciplinary hearing. John Hollis of the Connecticut Teamsters said, “The union was bringing him into meet with the company to remedy the problem. He started shooting.”
Manchester, Conn., Police Chief Marc Montminy told reporters that Thornton was being escorted out of the office building when he opened fire.
According to Thornton’s girlfriend of eight years, who spoke through her mother, Joanne Hannah, “Thornton, who is black, had complained to his superiors about racial harassment. A picture of a noose and a racial epithet has been hung on a bathroom wall at the beer dealership,” Hannah said. But, a Teamster Local 1035 official stated to the AP that Thornton had “made no complaint of racism to use of to any federal or state agency.”
Thornton used a .223 caliber semiautomatic rifle to fatally shoot eight people, before shooting himself as police officers approached the business.
Two of the fatally shot victims were identified as Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington, president of Teamsters 1035, and Victor James, 59, of Windsor. The vice president at the company was shot in the arm and face. The identities of the rest of victims are currently being withheld.
A full investigation is underway.
Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for Connecticut personal injury lawyers.
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