Nine dead in shooting rampage by sacked man

A CONNECTICUT warehouse driver who was asked to resign his job at a beer distributor went on a shooting rampage yesterday that left nine people dead, including himself.

The driver, Omar Thornton, had worked at the distributor for a couple of years and been called in for a disciplinary hearing, said John Hollis of the Connecticut Teamsters union, who was with company officials at the scene of the shooting.

About 50 to 70 people were in the warehouse during a shift change when the gunman opened fire at about 7am, said Brett Hollander, whose family owns Hartford Distributors.

Among the victims was Mr Hollander's cousin, a vice-president at the company, who was shot in the arm and the face.

"There was a guy that was supposed to, was asked to resign, to come in to resign and chose not to and shot my cousin and my co-workers," Mr Hollander said.

Joanne Hannah told the Hartford Courant that her daughter Kristi had dated Thornton for eight years. Thornton, who is black, had complained about being racially harassed at work, Ms Hannah said.

He had complained to his managers, who did nothing about it, she said her daughter had told her.

The rampage was the deadliest in the US.since 13 people were fatally shot at Fort Hood, Texas, last November. A military psychiatrist is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in that case.