Cops Hunt Broker in Boss Slaying

N O R F O L K,  Va., Nov. 8 -- Police were hunting for a fired stockbroker who allegedly returned to his former workplace and killed his boss, officials said.

Police said Joseph H. Ludlam, a 36-year-old who lost his job at First Union Securities last month, returned to his office on the 14th floor of downtown Norfolk’s Sun Trust building at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and shot branch manager Tim O’Shaughnessy, 40.

Police have charged the fugitive with murder, and filed a warrant against him with the National Crime Information Network, police spokesman Larry Hill said.

“If he happens to get stopped elsewhere else in the United States, [and] an officer runs a check on his name, they will know that he is wanted for a murder here in Norfolk,” Hill said.

The search for Ludlam, of Portsmouth, was focused in southeastern Virginia because a witness apparently saw him in the area as late as Tuesday afternoon.

First Union officials reportedly said O’Shaughnessy, who had been hire to boost morale in the office, fired Ludlam over concerns aggressive trading tactics.

Something Was Amiss

People arriving for work knew something was amiss when they found a parking garage door onto Plume Street bashed outward. The suspect had apparently tried to flee through the door, in the victim’s car, but then used another exit.

Right after the shooting, the suspect stepped on an elevator with Joanne Podgurski. “He was sweating profusely,” she told ABC affiliate WVEC-TV. “His face was just covered in sweat. He was breathing really hard. I asked, ‘Are you okay?’ And he just said, ‘It’s really hot in here.’”

Podgurski got off on her floor, having no idea Ludlam was a suspected killer. “Maybe, had I made serious eye contact with him or something, who knows what he would have done? It’s scary now.”

Police later towed Ludlam’s car, with its custom license plate depicting his work as a stockbroker. He left it behind in the SunTrust garage.