Six Killed in Factory Shooting, Including Gunman

Ky. police say employee shot, killed 5 at plastics plant before killing himself.

ByABC News
February 9, 2009, 2:02 PM

June 25, 2008— -- A factory worker with a reputation for not getting along with co-workers went on a shooting spree at a Kentucky plastics plant early today after getting into an argument with his supervisor, police told ABC News. The gunman killed five other employees before shooting himself to death, police said.

A seventh person who was wounded is listed in critical condition.

According to police, the employee got into an argument with a supervisor around midnight and used a hand gun to shoot other workers seemingly at random.

"We do know the suspect brought the handgun after an argument with a supervisor," Lt. David Piller of the Henderson, Ky., police department told ABC's "Good Morning America."

"We don't know for sure what the motivation was behind this. We do know he did have an argument earlier with a supervisor. We don't know if that played a part in this or not. We're still following up on that," Piller said.

"As far as any other motivation may be, we know that he's had some problems with other employees in the past."

The employee, a press operator, began arguing with a supervisor and was escorted from the building, company CEO Bud Philbrook told The Associated Press.

As the employee was leaving, he took out a gun, shot the supervisor, then charged back into a break room and shot several employees. Then he returned to the floor and shot another employee before killing himself, Philbrook said.

"It's just total shock. It's something you read about in the paper what happened at one of our facilities," Philbrook said.

It wasn't clear if the employee was carrying the gun, or if he retrieved it after the argument. "We don't know if the gun was in the car or if he went somewhere to get it," Piller said.

The Atlantis Plastics factory is located in Henderson, a town of about 28,000 people.

Of the seven people found by police with gunshot wounds, only one has survived. The victim has been airlifted to Deaconnes Hospital in Evansville, Ind.

Police have yet to release the identities and genders of the shooter or the victims. Piller said that the supervisor was one of the gunman's shooting victims, but it wasn't clear whether he was among the dead.