Gunman opens fire in St. Louis, Missouri factory(4 dead/5 wounded-gunman dead)

[MuffyBee]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8446728.stm

Gunman on rampage at Missouri factory
Page last updated at 17:56 GMT, Thursday, 7 January 2010

Emergency services have rushed the casualties to hospital

Three people have been killed and four wounded after a gunman stormed a factory in the city of St Louis, Missouri, US police said.

Reports say workers at the ABB Power factory are hiding in offices and on the roof awaiting rescue.

Police teams are scouring the factory but it is unclear if the gunman has been killed or is still at large.

Of the injured, two were in a critical condition and one was seriously hurt, a fire department spokesman said.

The fourth had minor injuries, Bob Keuss added.

The shooting began at 0630 local time (1230 GMT) police said.

Local radio reported that the man had opened fire in the car park and then stormed the factory.

Initial reports said one person had been killed but the death toll was later updated.


Earlier, police Captain Sam Dotson said: "We believe (the suspect is) in the complex right now.

"That is why tactical (teams) are going room by room. It's a very large complex, very compartmentalised.

"It's a very large complex and it's connected to an even larger complex so it's a very slow and methodical process and it will take several hours," he added.

ABB spokesman Bob Fesmire could not confirm reports that the gunman was a former employee.

"We can confirm that there was a shooting, but the information is still unclear," he told AFP news agency.

He said there may have been fewer workers at the plant on Thursday due to a blizzard and temperatures plunging to -11C (12F).

The St Louis Post-Dispatch reported that at least one worker had barricaded himself in a maintenance room.

The factory is part of Swiss-based ABB engineering and makes power transformers.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6063D420100107
At least one dead in Missouri factory shooting
ST. LOUIS
Thu Jan 7, 2010 11:58am EST

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire on Thursday at electrical products company ABB Power, where he worked on the assembly line, killing at least one co-worker and wounding several others, authorities said.

U.S.

In a chaotic scene at ABB Power, a unit of Swiss-based ABB Ltd, a wounded worker hid in an office and others fled to the rooftop awaiting rescue, while the gunman remained on the loose.

A nearby highway was closed, as police feared the gunman had fled out a back entrance.

ABB Ltd is based in Zurich, and has 120,000 employees making electrical equipment in facilities around the world.

"This is obviously a very serious situation and we are working to gather more information as it becomes available. The welfare of our employees is of utmost importance to us," the company in Zurich said in a statement.

ABB officials in St Louis identified the gunman to police as Timothy Hendron, 51, an assembly line worker at the plant that makes electrical transformers.

One company official told police Hendron had been dismissed, but a motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.

Hendron was a plaintiff in a class-action federal lawsuit against the company and its pension review committee over financial losses, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

A neighbor said Hendron was a hunter and owned guns.

Armed with a rifle and a handgun, the gunman started firing in the parking lot and then stormed the facility, local radio reported.

(Reporting by Andrew Stern, Editing by Sandra Maler)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/01/07/12380986.html
Shooting at ABB Power in St. Louis

Last Updated: 7th January 2010, 1:16pm

(slide show)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2010/01/04/daily46.html
Suspected ABB gunman had sued company
Thursday, January 7, 2010, 9:28am CST  |  Modified: Thursday, January 7, 2010, 12:23pm
An employee who had filed a lawsuit against ABB Inc. fatally shot two people and injured five more before Thursday morning at the company's plant in north St. Louis.

The suspected gunman, Timothy Hendron, 51, of Webster Groves, entered the transformers plant at 4350 Semple Ave. around 6:30 a.m. wielding an assault rifle and a handgun, police say. He shot eight people, killing two. Police say they are working to confirm whether a third body is Hendron's.

Of the five victims being treated at area hospitals, three are listed in critical condition and two are in fair condition, police say.
<snip>
(Copy of lawsuit available in article at link)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kmox.com/UPDATE--ABB-standoff-ends-with-gunman-s-apparent-s/6060382

Posted: Thursday, 07 January 2010 7:16AM

UPDATE: Police statement on ABB Standoff




Brett Blume/Brian Kelly/Kevin Killeen Reporting
kmoxnews@kmox.com

ST. LOUIS (KMOX)  -- UPDATE - 3 p.m. statement from St. Louis City Police Department:

At approximately 6:30 a.m., on January 7, 2010, police received a call for a shooting at ABB Incorporated, a transformer manufacturing company, located at 4350 Semple Avenue. Employees identified the shooter as a current ABB employee. Police received information that multiple persons were wounded and that the suspect’s whereabouts were unknown.

Police quickly set up a perimeter around the building. The department’s tactical teams responded and made entry into the complex. A white male believed to be the suspect was located inside the complex with what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Though the investigation is in its early stages, investigators have determined that the suspect shot at least eight ( other people before then shooting and killing himself.

Of the eight ( other persons shot, three (3) were pronounced dead at the scene and five (5) were taken to area hospitals with injuries. Of the five (5) taken to hospitals, three (3) are listed in critical condition and two (2) are listed in fair condition.

The department is working to make next of kin notifications before releasing the names of the deceased victims. The suspect’s name will be released upon positive identification to be made by the suspect’s next of kin. Though the department cannot yet release the suspect’s name, we are confident that the suspect in this incident is the person found deceased at the scene.

Investigators are working closely with the executives at ABB Incorporated in an effort to gain more information about the suspect and his status at ABB prior to the shooting.

The department is being assisted by St. Louis County Police, the Missouri Highway Patrol and several federal agencies.

Previous story:
A snowy morning of gunfire, panic and blood at a north St. Louis manufacturing facility,  as a worker firing an assault rifle and handgun kills at least three people and wounds five others.

Names of the victims were not yet released.   Three of the wounded were in critical condition and two were in fair condition, police said.   Sources at the scene told KMOX that the gunman was among the dead, but police have not yet confirmed that.

The alleged shooter, Timothy Hendron, 51, of Webster Groves, was involved in a pension benefit lawsuit with his employer, Swiss-based ABB, a maker of power transmissions and industrial automation equipment located at 4350 Semple Avenue.

The shooting started around 6:30 a.m., as the St. Louis area was waking up to several inches of snow and sub zero windchills.   During a shift change as some 50 people were at the plant, workers heard several shots ring out in rapid succession. 

Witnesses tell KMOX Hendron showed up at work with a shotgun and an assault rifle. He shot his first two victims at point blank range, about eight feet.

They say as a security guard ran way, he yelled, "Why are you running, pig" and shot at him.

As terrified employees jumped in their cars to escape, Hendron allegedly opened fire on their vehicles. 

Other workers hid in closets, in the boiler room and even on the roof waiting for police to arrive.

A company employee tells KMOX Hendron worked on the assembly line, and his first victims were assembly line supervisors.

He says he met Hendron a couple of times and he seemed "jovial."

The killing spree came on the same week that a trial had begun in Kansas City federal court of a lawsuit filed by Hendron and other ABB workers.   It's not clear whether the shooting was motivated by the court fight.

At issue in the suit, originally filed in 2006, was whether the company had imposed "unreasonable and excessive" fees in its 401K plan.   The lawsuit seeks to recover losses.  The jury trial is expected to last three weeks.

ABB Group employs some 270 people at the north St. Louis plant.   It's one of a hundred countries where the firm has operations.   In total, ABB has some 120,000 workers.   Last fall, it reported third-quarter earnings of more than a billion dollars.

The company released a statement to the Associated Press.  Thomas Schmidt, an ABB corporate spokesman in Zurich, Switzerland, said in statement:

"This is obviously a very serious situation and we are working to gather more information as it becomes available,'' the statement said. "The welfare of our employees is of utmost importance to us.''

Meanwhile, on the street where he lived -- Dobbin Road in south Webster Groves  -- neighbors shovelling their driveways expressed astonishment that "one of their own" from the quiet, middle class street was at the heart of the shooting.

A man who asked not to be identified said that the accused shooter was someone he had seen working in the yard, but that he was "normal, like any other man."

Webster Groves police report that no one else at the suspect's house was hurt or missing and that no note had been found foreshadowing the shooting spree.  Webster Police tell KMOX they have never had any domestic disturbance calls or any type of problem reports from the house.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bnd.com/100/story/1078204.html?storylink=omni_popular

Four dead, including Collinsville coach, in St. Louis plant shooting
January 7, 2010


Provided to BND



ST. LOUIS -- An assistant football coach from Collinsville High School was among three people killed Thursday morning after an employee armed with an assault rifle and a handgun started shooting at a St. Louis manufacturing plant, according to police and other sources.

The shooter was later found dead inside the plant, police said during a 3 p.m. news conference. Details were not immediately available.

Cory Wilson, 27, of Collinsville, was one of four people killed after 6:30 a.m. at the ABB power plant when an employee started shooting outside and then entered the business, which is located on the city's north side just off Interstate 70. A total of nine people were shot.


Of the five wounded, three were listed in critical condition and two in fair condition at local hospitals.

Wilson worked at ABB and volunteered as a Collinsville High School assistant football coach. He was a 2000 graduate of Collinsville High and was a hard-hitting linebacker and fullback for the Kahoks who was recruited by several Division I schools. He picked McKendree, where he was an NAIA second-team All-American after his senior season in 2003.

Wilson was the linebackers' coach at Collinsville the past three years under head coach Mike Liljegren.

"He was a great kid," Liljegren said. "He was a very good coach — an intense coach. I didn't see him play, but I understand the way he played, and that was the way he coached, too. He commanded respect with the way he carried himself."

Liljegren said Wilson was very knowledgeable about football, but there was much more to him than athletics.

"More importantly, he was a great example for the kids," Liljegren said. "You're trying to teach football, but you're also trying to teach them how to be men, and he was a great example to them.

"It's a loss for the community. There are lot of people who knew him better than I did who feel bad. A lot of people cared for him."

Police said the gunman, identified as 51-year-old Timothy Hendron of Webster Groves, showed up at Swiss-based ABB Group’s sprawling plant around 6:30 a.m., armed with an assault rifle and a handgun.

Several hours after the shooting, officers were still inside the plant, going room to room to make sure there were no more victims.

The motive for the shooting wasn’t immediately known. But in 2006, Hendron and other ABB workers sued the company over retirement losses. The federal lawsuit accused ABB and its pension-review committee of causing their 401(k) accounts to include investment options with “unreasonable and excessive” — and undisclosed — fees and expenses. The suit went to trial Tuesday in Kansas City.

The shooting began during a shift change at the plant, which employs about 270 people. Forty to 50 employees were likely in the building at the time, police Capt. Sam Dotson said.

It wasn’t clear how many shots were fired, but authorities said employees scurried to find refuge from the bullets.

“Many of them sought safety on the roof, in boilers and broom closets,” Dotson said.

Swiss-based ABB Group makes power transmission and industrial automation equipment. The company manufactures transformers at the St. Louis site, according to its Web site.

ABB has operations in roughly 100 countries, employing about 120,000 people. Last October, ABB reported third-quarter earnings of more than $1 billion.

Thomas Schmidt, an ABB corporate spokesman in Zurich, Switzerland, said in statement that the company had received reports of the shooting.

“This is obviously a very serious situation and we are working to gather more information as it becomes available,” the statement said. “The welfare of our employees is of utmost importance to us.”

Word of Hendron’s alleged involvement in the shooting stunned his neighbors in Webster Groves. Many neighbors described Hendron as an amicable family man who kept a well-manicured home for his wife and small boy.

“I couldn’t ask for a better neighbor. We never had any problems with him,” said Glennon Meyer, a 71-year-old retiree who credits Hendron with friendly gestures ranging from raking Meyer’s leaves to bringing over a chocolate cake last Christmas.

A few years ago, Meyer said, Hendron mentioned something in passing about having problems on the job. Hendron didn’t elaborate.

“Gee, I’ve talked to Tim many times, and he never exhibited any mental aberration,” Meyer said.

Ron Hawkins, who lives across the street from Hendron’s split-level home, echoed that.

“He seems like a really nice guy,” said Hawkins, 72. “I know nothing negative about he and the family.”

Reporters Maria Baran and David Wilhelm contributed to this report.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/5FC07F66A8A54568862576A4006EF3C4?OpenDocument
Shooting victim Cory Wilson remembered as a quiet leader

By Ken Roberts and Kavita Kumar
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/07/2010

ABB shooting victim Cory Wilson, left, and in his McKendree College uniform. (Hanout photos/P-D)

Cory Wilson, one of the men who was killed today in a shooting rampage at a factory, was a standout football player in high school and college who was mourned as a man "whose leadership ability and skills were second to none."
<snip>

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kgmi.com/pages/6067274.php?contentType=4&contentId=5358221
Posted: Thursday, 07 January 2010 7:31PM

Four Dead In Missouri ABB Factory Shooting


ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - An assembly line worker armed with a rifle who had a pending lawsuit against electrical products company ABB Power killed three co-workers and wounded five others on Thursday before killing himself, police said.

In a chaotic scene at ABB Power, a unit of Swiss-based ABB Ltd, one wounded worker telephoned police from an office and others hid in closets or on the roof awaiting rescue while the gunman was still on the loose.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition.

<snip>

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/01/08/stlouis-shooter-confirmed.html

St. Louis factory shooting victims named