Heroic Employee Saved Lives in Manchester Shooting.
Heroism prevented further tragedy in Manchester this morning. At least one Hartford Distributors employee who saw the shooter with a gun warned others at the Manchester company to run to safety, sacrificing himself. The alleged killer, identified as Omar S. Thornton, pursued that employee and shot him in the head, killing him, according to an eyewitness.
Employees and families are in the auditorium of the Manchester Police Department now, hearing more details of this morning’s tragedy. Members of the clergy are in attendance as family members are spoken to in private about the fate of loved ones. The approximately 200 people gathered at the Manchester headquarters on East Middle Turnpike have been asked to stay at the police department as officials talk to them individually and as a group.
At least 8 are dead, others are injured. No names have been released.
24 comments
A truly selfless and courageous act, for which we are all indebted. As his family endures an unbelieveable grief, they have our gratitude and tears for their loss. What an amazing man to have such a brave heart.
This is so unbelievably sad and tragic.
Very brave man, may all of the victims rest in peace.
RIP, a brave man whom we all are indebted to.
God bless them one and all…..In Jesus name.
“No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friends.” -John 5:13
“No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friends.” -John 15:13
Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends……
May God comfort and provide for the survivors.
Well said.
I don’t know how many people would sacrifice their own life for someone else – that is certainly the ultimate act of courage and bravery – I salute that person – my thoughts and prayers are with all the families
Is this American way of suicide bombing? What are we doing as a society to stop criminals and mentally unstable people from possesing guns.
God, Jesus, Hero, Courageous, Selfless, Sacrifice, Brave against mentally unstable shooter?
Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Unfortunately, due to the way our minds and hearts work, it’s easier to blame the instrument rather than the person. The truth is that we are the ones to blame. We either ignore our fellow humans when they try to show us they are in pain or need us and most of us can admit to ourselves that we willingly commit malicious acts on those around us in the name of pride, desire, etc.
My prayers go out to the families, and the human race in general. I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but I believe that we will be our own end.
Mr. Thornton had complained to his superiors about harassment, Joanne Hannah said. A picture of a noose and a racial epithet had been hung on a bathroom wall at the beer distributorship, Ms. Hannah said. She said her daughter told her that Thornton’s supervisors had not responded to his complaints.
“Everybody’s got a breaking point,” Ms. Hannah said, adding that her daughter was with Mr. Thornton on Monday night and had no indication he planned the shooting.
You can have a breaking point, and then you go to a higher authority, launch a lawsuit, etc. Killing your co-workers hardly counts as an acceptable response to losing your cool.
What a bunch of crap, racial epithet. It’s a ruse. I would bet if one examined Omar’s CDs you’d find a bunch of rappers repeating that epithet constantly. A noose? Sure, what did Omar do with this fine evidence? He certainly never lodged a grievance (any Union employee can do that, and knows it), nor did he bring this to any supervisor. It’s a bunch of crap designed to make us pity someone that had no pity for the fathers and sons and brothers he murdered, in cold blood, because he got caught stealing. A thief? A killer? Think he’d REALLY tell the truth on that?
this happened in my town, 3 miles from where i lay sleeping!! nobody is covering up racial slurs etc, it didn’t happen!! like he’s the only black man in the company. my heart goes out to those who have been affected by this shooting. it’s been 16 hours since the shooting and some people are just finding out that thier friends are still alive! if you want to die, go for it …. but don’t take innocent people with you!!
Midwest Guy,
Guns may not kill people, but if you put one in an unstable individuals hand, you will find that your statement is a thinly veiled cliche to protect the right to bear arms. This is not the revolutionary era, people don’ t need guns like they did when real threats existed everyday. You need to wake up and realize that making guns available to anyone with a pulse is irresponsible, even if it’s legal. I think your statement was ill-timed, and classless. “We” are to blame? I’m sorry, but I am not taking the blame with you. If you want to blame society for the murder of 9 friends this morning, I think you should stop posting that “guns don’t kill people BS” and start thinking about how you’d feel if it was your child that died this morning.
My thoughts, and prayers go to the families who have lost their husbands, fathers, grandfathers, boyfriends, best friends, partners. How many more people have to be killed here, in the U.S., in other countries until it is enough?
Was Mr. Thornton not practicing discrimination when he shot innocent people who had nothing to do with any discrimination he may or may not have encountered?
The easy availability of guns and video games that glorify shooting and dehumanize victims is bringing disaster to a generation that has no training in impulse control, problem solving, or conflict resolution.
Yes, guns do not kill people…people kill people. But it is people who lack the skills mentioned above who use guns to kill others and then themselves, so they won’t have to be punished for their wrongdoing in this world. Compare the levels of murder and violence in the US to that in other countries that don’t have easy availability of guns. THINK about it.
He was caught STEALING from the company on video. Instead of publicly firing him, and “making an example,” the company quietly offered him a chance to resign.
Racial harassment? Nooses he didn’t report? No, what I’m beginning to see here is a man with a chip on his shoulder, with a huge sense of entitlement. He didn’t — as far as we know — report any racial harassment, but we DO know he was a thief. And thieves often make excuses, and justify their thievery.
Guns? A few days ago, right across the road from Martha Stewart’s place in NY, an unstable women nearly killed two little girls she was babysitting — with kitchen knives. Every weekend people drink themselves into “instability,” and kill and injure themselves and others — with cars.
To the fellow who thinks “This is not the revolutionary era, people don’ t need guns like they did when real threats existed everyday.” Sorry, but “real threats” DO exist today, every day, from armed criminals. Anybody remember that hideous home invasion in Cheshire a couple of years ago, where a wife and daughters were brutally raped and murdered over seven hours? Hard statistics clearly show that EVERYWHERE that we are allowed to carry concealed, the crime rate FALLS.
“Revolutionary era?” “…thinly veiled cliche to protect the right to bear arms?” “Cliche?” Really? If ANYone besides the shooter had been armed, people could have been saved. If the shooter had KNOWN that at least some fellow workers were armed, it is quite possible he wouldn’t have even started his rampage. Almost all mass shootings — here and in Europe (yes, they have them in Europe, too) — take place where guns are banned, the victims are defenseless, and the shooter just blazes away at them.
And, here’s news from today from a country where there is no private gun ownership:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9HCHU180&show_article=1
Another in a series of KNIFE attacks that killed many people.
There were no racial threats brought to the attention of the union or management. It’s just another opportunity to play the race (or ethnicity, or gender, or religion, or age) card instead of taking responsibility for one’s self. I hear the little children in the next yard blaming each other for things instead of trying to play nice themselves. The other day, I watched a little boy in the yard pointing a homemade toy “weapon” at the heads of each of the other children as they played and ran around, finally settling on the head of the two-year-old who sat there innocently in the sandbox. He calmly took aim and held it – it was chilling. You read the lyrics of some of the music people listen to these days, and see graphic video games of people being killed … it’s no wonder people have become desensitized to the taking of human lives. Mad? Just kill ’em. That’ll solve the problem.
How did he get so far carrying a gun and a RED satchel to a meeting? Didn’t it look suspicious? Did they think he was bringing the bag to clean out his locker? As for the white-trash girlfriend, good lookin’ out for society! My thoughts and prayers to everyone else affected by this tragedy.
Anybody who kills innocent, unarmed fellow humans is a coward, as anybody here can see about this individual, sorry for those who lost love ones. people can argue that he was not in his right mind and even that he had a mental illness, but there no history of that as far as know. This was pure human cruelty nothing more.