Employee disgruntled over getting fired; alleged racial prejudice
The Hartford Distributors shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on August 3, 2010, in Manchester, Connecticut, United States. The location of the crime was a warehouse owned by Hartford Distributors, a beer distribution company. The gunman, former employee Omar Sheriff Thornton (born April 25, 1976)[1] shot and killed eight male coworkers before turning a gun on himself.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][excessive citations]
Thornton, aged 34, was called into his place of employment for disciplinary purposes. Thornton had been recorded on surveillance video in the Hartford Distributors warehouse stealing beer on a previous occasion. He was also implicated in the theft of empty beer kegs.[9] Hartford Distributors is a wholesale distributor of Budweiserbeer products and wine. Given the options of being fired or resigning, Thornton signed the resignation papers and was being escorted out of the building. Instead of leaving, he took a Ruger SR9semi-automatic pistol from his lunchbox and opened fire.
At the time Thornton started shooting, there were around 40 employees in the building. In just a few minutes, Thornton murdered eight coworkers and seriously injured two others. Many employees made calls to 911, with some callers identifying Thornton.[10] Police arrived on the scene just three minutes after the first 911 call.[11] Police entered the building ten minutes after the first 911 call. Thornton promptly hid in a locked office. As more police entered the building, Thornton called his mother and explained to her what he had done. He told her he planned on turning the gun on himself. As police closed in, Thornton called 911, saying his motive for the massacre was racism he had experienced in the workplace. He told the 911 operator that he wished he had killed more people.[12][13] Soon after hanging up, he killed himself with a shot to the head.
Family members of Thornton have stated that he had complained to them that, as a Black person, he was being racially discriminated against at his job. Thornton's girlfriend, Kristi Hannah, claimed that he had seen a picture of a noose and a racial epithet written on a bathroom wall.[15] Company and union officials as well as workers at the facility have denied the charges of racism.[16] The union notes that he never filed a complaint with the union or any government agency.[17] Forensic psychiatrist Keith Ablow stated, "I've evaluated plenty of murderers during my career... and I can tell you that people don't commit atrocities because of name-calling."[18] A police probe did not find proof of racism at Hartford Distributors, with other minority workers at Hartford Distributors interviewed by the police disagreeing with Thornton's allegation that the company was "a racist place".[19]
Christy Quail and Sean Quail were arrested for receiving the property alleged to have been stolen by Thornton. Sean Quail was arrested on August 17 in an incident where he sprayed bug-repellent at reporters covering the case. Quail was charged with three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, three counts of third-degree assault, carrying a dangerous instrument, and breach of peace.[21]
^Friedman, Emily (August 4, 2010). "Chilling 911 Tapes from Connecticut Shooting Describe Gunman's Deadly Rampage". ABC News. Archived from the original on August 6, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2010. Newly-released 911 calls show that the gunman who shot up a Connecticut beer distributorship and killed eight people on Tuesday terrified employees during a 45-minute rampage, in which police say he may have targeted and chased specific victims before taking his own life. "Someone got shot, I got shot," Steven Hollander, the vice president of Hartford Distributors, told a 911 operator as he hid in his office. "We need the cops." Hollander told the operator he knew the gunman. "His name is Omar Thornton. He's a black guy, and get the cops here right away, I'm bleeding all over the place," said Hollander. "We need cops right away."
^Smith, Sebastian (August 6, 2010). "US warehouse killer claimed racism revenge". AFP. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. But police said they had no direct evidence of racism, while company bosses and union representatives denied there'd been a problem.
^Ablow, Keith (August 4, 2010). "Racism Did Not Cause Omar Thornton to Kill In Connecticut". Fox News. Archived from the original on August 12, 2010. Retrieved August 8, 2010. Frankly, more ominous than his family's reports of racial bias against Omar Thornton are questions that should be asked about whether he may have been suspicious of others to the point of paranoia, along with company reports that he was being fired for stealing beer.
^Gendreau, Leanne (August 17, 2010). "Reporters Sprayed With Bug Spray Outside Court". NBC Connecticut. The can appears to be Spectracide wasp and hornet spray. The warning in the material safety data sheet states that you should avoid breathing vapors of the product and avoid contact with the liquid.
