Workplace Violence: Worst-Case Scenarios

Aug. 27, 2003

Salvador Tapia kills six employees at the Chicago auto parts warehouse where he had been fired six months before. Tapia was killed in a gun battle with police. He had been arrested 12 times previously and charged with offenses including domestic battery, gun violations and aggravated assault.

July 8, 2003

Doug Williams kills five employees, injures nine others and then turns his gun on himself in a Lockheed Martin facility in Mississippi. Williams was known to be an uncooperative employee, and the company had been monitoring him for about a year.

July 1, 2003

Jonathon Russell kills three colleagues and injures five others at a Modine Manufacturing factory in Missouri. He then drives to a police station and shoots himself after confronting two officers outside the building. Police believe the spree was motivated by disciplinary action he was facing at work.

Dec. 6, 2001

Robert Wissman walks into the Indiana offices of Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork and opens fire on coworkers. Wissman reportedly had been involved in a workplace love-triangle. He kills the plant manager and wounds six others before taking his own life.

Feb. 5, 2001

William Baker, a former employee of Navistar, forces his way into the company’s Chicago plant. He kills four employees and wounds four others before killing himself. He was due to begin a five-month prison sentence for theft of company property.

Dec. 26, 2000

Michael McDermott kills seven coworkers after a dispute with the IRS where his employer, Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, Mass., agreed to garnish his wages (see main story, below).

Dec. 6, 1999

After being fired for alcoholism and poor performance, William Manies walks into the Tennessee office of Lawhorn & Associates and shoots his former employer’s office manager in the head.

Nov. 2, 1999

Byran Uyesugi opens fire at the Xerox warehouse in Honolulu where he is employed, killing seven coworkers. In 1993, Xerox asked him to seek medical treatment after he kicked in an elevator door. He had attended an anger management course to erase the criminal property damage charge.

July 29, 1999

Mark Barton, a day trader who had reportedly lost more than $100,000, kills his wife and two children before killing nine more people and wounding 13 at two Atlanta brokerage offices. He later commits suicide.

April 3, 1995

James Simpson shoots five people to death at the Texas office of his former employer Walter Rossler Co. before fatally shooting himself. Simpson was apparently depressed and had left his job the year before.