Hartford Distributors shooting
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The Hartford Distributors shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on August 3, 2010, in
Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713. The urban center of the town is the Manchester (CDP), Connecticut, Manchester census- ...
, 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) shot and killed eight male coworkers before turning a gun on himself.


Shooting

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
keg A keg is a small barrel. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is coated with plastic on th ...
s. Hartford Distributors is a wholesale distributor of
Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrela ...
beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
products and
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
. 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 SR9 The Ruger SR-Series is a line of semi-automatic pistols manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Company. At thick through the grip, it is touted by Ruger as one of the thinnest double-stack pistols available. The SR-series has been marketed as a backu ...
semi-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
911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 91 ...
, with some callers identifying Thornton. Police arrived on the scene just three minutes after the first 911 call. 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. (Audio recording) Soon after hanging up, he killed himself with a shot to the head.


Victims

Eight people were killed and two others were injured in the shooting.


Killed

*Francis Fazio, Jr., 57 *Douglas Scruton, 56 *Edwin Kennison, 49 *William Ackerman, 51 *Bryan Cirigliano, 51 *Craig Pepin, 60 *Louis Felder, 50 *Victor James, 61


Wounded

*Steven Hollander, 50 *Jerome Rosenstein, 77


Aftermath

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. Company and union officials as well as workers at the facility have denied the charges of racism. The union notes that he never filed a complaint with the union or any government agency. Forensic psychiatrist
Keith Ablow Keith Russell Ablow (born November 23, 1961) is an American author, television personality, and psychiatrist. He is a former contributor for Fox News Channel and TheBlaze. Formerly an assistant clinical professor at Tufts University School ...
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." 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". The massacre is the deadliest workplace shooting in Connecticut history and the second-deadliest mass shooting in the state, after the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...
. Connecticut suffered a similar workplace shooting at the Lottery Headquarters in Newington on March 6, 1998, which left five dead including the shooter.Employee kill self, 4 others
'' Sun Journal'' (March 7, 1998) 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.


References

{{Mass shootings in the United States in the 2010s 2010 in Connecticut 2010 mass shootings in the United States 2010 murders in the United States Attacks in the United States in 2010 August 2010 crimes in the United States Crimes in Connecticut Deaths by firearm in Connecticut Events in Hartford County, Connecticut Manchester, Connecticut Mass murder in 2010 Mass shootings in Connecticut Mass shootings in the United States Massacres in the United States Murder in Connecticut Murder–suicides in Connecticut Workplace violence in the United States