Three dead so far in St Louis shooting

[malaise]

at ABB Power. Reports say the gunman committed suicide after opening fire on former coworkers. Looks like he worked there 20 or 30 years before being laid off.

It's gonna get rougher yet.
----------------
Police are finding dead bodies now that they have accessed the building.
Note the earlier report said at least one person had died at that time.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6063D420100107
<snip>
ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire on Thursday at electrical products company ABB Power, where he worked on the assembly line, killing at least one co-worker and wounding several others, authorities said.

In a chaotic scene at ABB Power, a unit of Swiss-based ABB Ltd, a wounded worker hid in an office and others fled to the rooftop awaiting rescue, while the gunman remained on the loose.

A nearby highway was closed, as police feared the gunman had fled out a back entrance.

ABB Ltd is based in Zurich, and has 120,000 employees making electrical equipment in facilities around the world.

"This is obviously a very serious situation and we are working to gather more information as it becomes available. The welfare of our employees is of utmost importance to us," the company in Zurich said in a statement.

ABB officials in St Louis identified the gunman to police as Timothy Hendron, 51, an assembly line worker at the plant that makes electrical transformers.

One company official told police Hendron had been dismissed, but a motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.

Hendron was a plaintiff in a class-action federal lawsuit against the company and its pension review committee over financial losses, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
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[JFN1]

1. Damn...

Living in a Republican world...

[Bozita]

2. Rumsfeld sat on the board of ABB for a decade. ABB sold nuclear stuff to North Korea, iirc.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/10/rumsfeld-abb/

FLASHBACK: Rumsfeld Sat On Board Of Company That Sold Nuclear Reactors To North Korea By Faiz Shakir on Oct 10th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
FLASHBACK: Rumsfeld Sat On Board Of Company That Sold Nuclear Reactors To North Korea
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell lauded what is known as the Agreed Framework that the Clinton Administration signed with North Korea. “Lots of nuclear weapons were not made because of the Agreed Framework and the work of President Clinton and his team,” Powell said. Now, conservatives are faulting President Clinton for selling light water reactors to North Korea under the agreement, but in doing so, they overlook Donald Rumsfeld’s role in the deal.

Rumsfeld was the only American to sit on the board of a company which six years ago sold two light water reactors to North Korea. The Guardian reported in May 2003:

Rumsfeld was a non-executive director of ABB, a European engineering giant based in Zurich, when it won a $200m contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors. The current defense secretary sat on the board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year.

Rumsfeld has never acknowledged that he knew the company was competing for the nuclear contract. In response to questions about his role in the reactor deal, former Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke told Newsweek in February 2003 that “there was no vote on this” and that her boss “does not recall it being brought before the board at any time.” But an investigation by Fortune magazine revealed that Rumsfeld probably did know:

ABB spokesman Bjoern Edlund told Fortune magazine at the time that “board members were informed about this project.” … “This was a major thing for ABB,” the former director said, “and extensive political lobbying was done.” The director recalls being told that Rumsfeld was asked “to lobby in Washington” on ABB’s behalf. … Although he couldn’t provide details, Goran Lundberg, who ran ABB’s power-generation business until 1995, says he’s “pretty sure that at some point Don was involved,” since it was not unusual to seek help from board members “when we needed contacts with the U.S. government.”

Rumsfeld has since refused media requests to talk about his role in the light water reactor deal and has instead criticized it.

[malaise]

3. Thanks for this

Very interesting.

Eight people were shot - three are critical according to GEM$NBC

[Don Caballero]

4. Another grim reminder of the obscene gun culture of our country

Very sad.

[malaise]

5. 3...2..1

Here come the NRA defenders.

[Don Caballero]

6. They are the worst

They will defend everything that has to do with their beloved firearms. Would not be surprised if they defend this murderer and his right to kill with a gun.

[malaise]

7. No they'll excuse the guns

Bet on it.

[spin]

9. Speaking as an NRA member I can state with confidence ...

that no NRA member I know supports the misuse of a firearm.

Speaking as a father whose daughter successfully stopped a home invasion by an intruder who intended to rape her, I can firmly state I that I support the legitimate use of a firearm for self defense. He had made it halfway through a sliding glass door when she drew down on him with a large caliber revolver. He left.

Speaking as a shooter who has enjoyed the sport of target shooting for many years, I can also state that shooting handguns is a challenging and difficult but rewarding sport.

Speaking as an American, I can say that the two most important rights in the Bill of Rights are the First and Second Amendments. The First (the most important) guarantees the right to free speech, free press, freedom of religion, the right of the people to peacefully assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The Second provides a guarantee that if the first fails, the citizens have a means to resist a tyranny.

Speaking as a Democrat I can state that these two amendments contain possibly the most progressive and liberal words ever put down on paper.

But speaking from my heart, I can sincerely say that I feel that every time a firearm is misused to murder or kill, it pains me deeply.

[malaise]

10. Nice post

:hi:

[spin]

12. Thanks for your support...(n/t)

[debbierlus]

8. Not another one -

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Asea Brown Bovrie. They make electric meters.