SCRIPT: Lockheed Martin Shooting

May 12, 2005 — -- We're about to take you inside what a group of terrified people witnessed. A gunman with a grudge. A massacre at a defense plant. Was it a worker who'd snapped and "gone postal," as the saying goes, or a one-man race war? It's a shocking "Primetime" investigation with a warning to viewers. You're about to hear some harsh language and see some graphic pictures. Here's ABC's Chief Investigative Correspondent, Brian Ross.

BRIAN ROSS, ABC NEWS

Within minutes of this phone call, six people inside a Lockheed Martin aircraft plant in Meridian, Mississippi would be dead.

911 CALLER

911, send somebody to Lockheed.

BRIAN ROSS

Many had feared this day was coming.

911 CALLER

We've got a shooting at Lockheed, in the industrial part, northeast. Please hurry. Hurry.

911 OPERATOR

Okay, ma'am, they're on the way.

BRIAN ROSS

A police videotape retraced the killer's steps through the plant. Horrified workers had begged to be saved.

911 OPERATOR

Tell me where the man is that's doing it.

911 CALLER

We don't know. He was on the production floor. We understand. That is the last thing I know.

BRIAN ROSS

As he moved along the plant floor, where workers build US military jet aircraft, the killer seemed to know who he was looking for.

BOBBY MCCALL, HUSBAND OF VICTIM

He had a list, and he called his list the "good niggers and the bad niggers."

911 OPERATOR

What was he wearing?

911 CALLER

I don't know.

911 OPERATOR

Do you know who it is?

911 CALLER

Yes. His name is Doug Williams.

BRIAN ROSS

The name was no surprise to many at the plant. Doug Williams, a long-time Lockheed employee, who for more than a year made no secret that he was preparing for a race war.

INVESTIGATOR

Did Mr. Williams ever say to you that he was going to kill, and excuse me, I've got to say it this way, some Black mother (censored)?

EMPLOYEE

Yes.

INVESTIGATOR

And did you report that to anybody at management?

EMPLOYEE

Yes, I did.

BRIAN ROSS

At the age of 48, Williams was outraged when Black workers at the plant complained about his racial slurs or got better-paying jobs. Williams' computer log-in was "white power."

AARON HOPSON, LOCKHEED MARTIN EMPLOYEE

He said, "You know, one of these days I'm gonna come in here and kill a bunch of niggers, and then I'm gonna kill myself."

BRIAN ROSS

What happened that day at the Lockheed plant was soon forgotten by the rest of the country. Quickly described by the Lockheed company as just another tragic, senseless workplace shooting.

But an investigation by "Primetime Live" along with documents the Lockheed company tried to keep secret reveals there is much more to it than that. It is a story of open racism, ugly slurs, violent threats and a plant owned by the country's largest defense contractor.

BILL BLAIR, LAWYER

I can't imagine a hate crime that had more forewarning than this one did.

BRIAN ROSS

Bill Blair is a lawyer for the family of one of Williams' victims now suing Lockheed.

BILL BLAIR

Lockheed is responsible for maintaining a workplace where people aren't threatened with death and called nigger.

BRIAN ROSS

The final straw for Williams was in this room, where he had been called to a diversity and ethics training class and was seated next to certain Black workers. He stormed out. Some white employees say a supervisor then warned them to beware of Williams.

LOCKHEED MARTIN EMPLOYEE

He said, "If Doug leaves at lunch," he said, "I want you to go home." And I said, I said, "Why?" He says, "Well, I'm afraid of what he might do."

BRIAN ROSS

But Williams didn't wait for lunch. He only had to go as far as his pickup truck in the parking lot to get his guns, which were already loaded and ready. Williams then headed straight back to the classroom.

CHARLES SCOTT, LOCKHEED MARTIN EMPLOYEE

He came in the door and he was saying something to the effect, "I got you all right here."

BRIAN ROSS

Charles Scott and Al Collier were at the same table with Williams and saw him return fully armed.

AL COLLIER, LOCKHEED MARTIN EMPLOYEE

He had a shotgun in his hand, rifle on his back, bullets draped down both sides of him.

BRIAN ROSS

The first shot was fired at Nikki Fitzgerald, who in an act of courage, stood up to calm Williams and was the first to be killed.

AL COLLIER

Just point blank shot him in the head.

BRIAN ROSS

Collier, Scott and the others then hit the floor.