An angry worker at the Thomas and Betts Corp. factory killed his bosses in the factory offices Thursday and then turned the gun on himself, police said.
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Special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation joined investigators with several other agencies in investigating a workplace shooting at a manufacturing plant in Athens that left two victims and the shooter dead.
The shooter’s body was found in a bathroom, dead of what “appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound”, Athens Police Chief Charles Ziegler said.
It happened at Thomas and Betts on Dennis Street shortly after 4:00pm.
Swafford, who is a long-time employee of the factory, reportedly left the meeting and the building, only to return some time later.
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.
“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. “We have absolutely no understanding of what motivated the perpetrator, but you have our promise that we are cooperating with law enforcement in every possible way”, said Joyce during a news conference Friday.
Ziegler, who plans to retire in December, said he can’t recall a similar case of mass violence in the community. When he returned with a gun, other employees were able to alert one another about the active shooting situation and evacuated. He went on to kill two more people and was later killed himself.
Leslie Earhart, a spokeswoman for TBI, said that there was no further information on the shooting.
Thomas & Betts’ headquarters is in suburban Memphis. The 118-year-old company is a unit of Swiss industrial conglomerate ABB and reported about 1,300 employees in the Memphis area in 2015.
The company said counselors will be on hand at the plant today.
“Our thoughts and prayer are with the victims, with the families, loved ones and friends of those we lost”, Joyce said.
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Parent company ABB said in a statement Thursday night that the “loss is profound”.
