David's Blog

I had a company training class recently about workplace violence. It reminded me of a situation I was in a few years ago (January 2002)...

I was in an engineering meeting on the 2nd floor. The meeting room had windows overlooking the lobby of the building. Because we were so close to the lobby, we always had a steady stream of background noise from the conversations of people coming and going. Midway through the meeting I remember hearing a "pop" and then a high pitched shriek. It sounded like someone popped a balloon and it scared someone enough to make them scream.

We finished our meeting and I went back to my office. An announcement was made by our receptionist over the intercom, "Building management has requested everybody return to their offices and lock the doors."

Never heard that one before!

Then I noticed the flashing lights outside my window...several police cars and some ambulances had pulled up around the building.

Overhead I could hear the sound of multiple helicopters flying around. I saw one go past my window. It was a local news helicopter. I called my girlfriend who was working at home. I asked her to turn on the news to tell me what was going on.

She said local news was showing the view from the news helicopter. They were reporting a gunman was on the loose in the building. CNN was covering the story live.

I saw that a SWAT truck had arrived. The SWAT guys had bullet proof vests and helmets.

I saw the SWAT guys enter the lobby. Then there was a long period where there were no events. Next I saw the paramedics go in and come out with a stretcher with a body cover by a blanket.

Apparently the shooter was upset with his girlfriend. He came to where she works and walked up to her and shot her in the face (hence the "pop" and scream I heard in my meeting). He stayed with his girlfriend until the police arrived. The police shot the gunman because he still was holding a gun. The girlfriend died later that day. The gunman survived.

Here is CNN's coverage of the story.

Posted on July 4, 2006 9:08 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)