INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Fired Employee Shoots Up Office, Injuring Co-Workers, Killing Supervisor & Then Self At Houston, Texas Company

By Janice Malcolm
Published on: 08:24 PST, May 4, 2016

Tragedy unfolded early Wednesday morning when a man who had been fired from his job at a transportation company returned with a shotgun and opened fire, injuring two persons, killing his old supervisor before killing himself. The shooting sent nearby high schools in the Houston area into lockdown.

Knight transportation, on Franz Road in Katy, just west of Houston, was the site of the shooting, which began a little before 9 a.m. this morning. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman reported that the shooter was fired from the company just this morning. When he returned this morning, it was with two different guns and the intent to get revenge. Before he went inside the building the shooter, who has not been identified, began random shots inside as he entered. One Knight Transportation worker was shot and killed while one more was injured.

Ralph Gonzales, who is a spokesperson from the Harris County Sheriff’s office, advised that it seems that the man returned home after he was fired and then came back with his two guns.

“He apparently became disgruntled because his payments had ceased, we understand he came to this location with a shotgun and a handgun. He came into the building and said something like ‘you ruined my life’ and then fired a round straight through the building and then started shooting.”

The site of the shooting was across the road from Morton Ranch High School, and according to the Chicago Tribune, once alerted to the situation, Katy ISD Police department were forced to put the school on lockdown as well as a few others that were close by. The Department of Public Safety, Katy police, and Texas Rangers all responded and assisted the Harris County Sheriff’s office in their response to Knight Transportation.

Even though classes have resumed at the schools that were on lockdown, the police advised parents to stay away as they still had roads blocked hours after the shooting.

Though the gunman fired many shots randomly into the building, in an interview, one worker stated that it did seem as if he was looking for someone particular as the shooter walked right by him and barely spared him a glance, a theory that Gonzales also supported. The fired employee was also allegedly muttering “you all ruined my life” during his shooting spree.

According to its website, Knight Transportation is an Arizona-based company that offers truck and trailer sales at various locations around the country. Fellow employees of the fired man all stated that they never would have thought the man capable of shooting up the building the way he did. In fact, WFAA reported that when the off-camera interview of the employees took place they all said that the shooter had been working there for two years and was “a quiet man who kept to himself.” They did not know the reason he was fired.

Police officers who responded to the scene found that one employee, who they believe was a supervisor for the shooter, was fatally shot by him. They reported that a short distance from the murdered man they found the body of the shooter, who had turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

Two other persons were injured during the gunman’s shooting, but fortunately none of those were serious injuries. They were not directly shot, sustaining injuries from either shrapnel or some other debris, and Gonzalez reported that both of these persons were treated on site. A member of the Harris County Sheriff’s office did have to go the hospital to be treated for an injury, but that was due to him damaging his knee as the police stormed the building in pursuit of the shooter.

The Harris County sheriff’s office will be handling the investigation into the shooting.

[Image via Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock]

Share this article: Fired Employee Shoots Up Office, Injuring Co-Workers, Killing Supervisor & Then Self At Houston, Texas Company
More from Inquisitr