Driver kills 8 co-workers, self in Conn. warehouse

MANCHESTER, Conn. - A driver caught stealing beer from the warehouse where he worked agreed to resign his job Tuesday, and then as "cold as ice," one of his victims said, went on a shooting rampage, killing eight people and injuring two before committing suicide.

Omar Thornton, 34, pulled out a handgun after a meeting in which he was shown video evidence of the thefts and was offered the chance to quit or be fired.

"Then he went out on this rampage," company vice president Steve Hollander told The Associated Press. "He was cool and calm. He didn't yell. He was cold as ice. He didn't protest when we were meeting with him to show him the video of him stealing. . . . He just agreed to resign. And then he just unexplainably pulled out his gun and started blasting."

Hollander said he thinks Thornton had guns stashed in his lunch box. The executive said two people standing right near him were shot in the head and killed, but he was only grazed in the jaw and the arm.

"He shot at me twice and hit me a couple times. By just the grace of God, I don't know how he missed me," he said.

About 50 to 70 people were in the Hartford Distributors warehouse about 10 miles east of Hartford during a shift change when the gunman opened fire around 7 a.m., said Brett Hollander, Steve Hollander's cousin and a member of the family that owns the distributorship.

After shooting his co-workers, Thornton called his mother, said Joanne Hannah, the mother of Thornton's girlfriend. "He wanted to say goodbye and that he loved everybody," she said.

Thornton was alive when police got to the scene but killed himself before officers got to him, Manchester Police Chief Marc Montminy said.

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

Hannah said her daughter, Kristi, had dated Thornton for the past eight years. Kristi Hannah did not return calls for comment.

Thornton was not a problem employee and had not had any previous disciplinary issues, said Gregg Adler, a lawyer for the Teamsters Local 1035.

Among the dead was Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington, president of Teamsters 1035, according to the union. He had been Thornton's representative at Tuesday's disciplinary hearing, the union said.

Another victim was warehouse worker Doug Scruton, 56, who had worked there for nearly 30 years, said his wife, Mikal O'Brien.

Bill Ackerman, 51, also was killed, said his girlfriend, Stephanie Laurin.

The Hartford Courant newspaper identified other victims as Victor James, 59, of Windsor; Edwin Kennison Jr., 49, of East Hartford; and Craig Pepin, 50, of South Windsor.