Local media initially reported that three employees had been shot, instead of two.
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The incident occurred across the street from a high school, which temporarily went into lockdown, McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said.
The unidentified shooter killed two people inside a Thomas and Betts plant building about 4 p.m. before fatally shooting himself, WBIR reports.
Law enforcement officials say worker Ricky Swafford shot supervisors James Zotter and Sandra Cooley after becoming agitated in a meeting with them Thursday.
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson confirmed it had agents headed to the scene as well. A preliminary investigation indicates that Swafford, a long-time employee of the plant, became upset during a meeting with Zotter and Cooley.
Niland said the TBI will turn the case over to the local prosecutor’s office for review after it finishes its investigation. “He did have a meeting with his supervisors, and it was during that meeting that he apparently experienced some agitation”. All three of the dead were employees of the plant. Employees ran from the building, taking shelter in a nearby wooded area, a cemetery and another plant. “This is one of those tragedies that we see on TV all the time, it happens everywhere else, it never supposed to happen in Athens”. Athens Police Chief Charles Ziegler said Swfford’s body found in a bathroom dead of what “appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound”.
“There is no appearance at this point that this was something planned”, Niland said, noting that officials are unsure of whether or not Swafford had the gun in his auto. No other workers were hurt.
Niland said Friday Swafford does not have a criminal history in Tennessee. She could not confirm whether he had retrieved the gun from his auto. Chief Ziegler said it appears he took his own life.
The TBI said that both victims were from Athens, Tennessee, located about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Knoxville, near the state’s borders with Georgia and North Carolina.
On Friday at the Thomas & Betts plant, which employs about 350, there was quiet and solemnity. ABB, the parent company of Thomas & Betts, said in a statement, “Our loss is profound”. The company designs and makes electrical components for industrial, commercial, lighting and utility markets.
“[Thursday], we lost colleagues in a senseless act of violence”.
“We mourn as a community and a community of coworkers”, Joyce said.
Police have not yet released information on the victims.
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“She was glad to be back and helping but was also really ready to truly retire so they could spend the time on what they planned on doing”, Kristy said.
