MELROSE, Ill. — A disgruntled former employee killed four people at Navistar’s Chicago-area factory this morning before taking his own life, police say.
Police report that at least four others were wounded at the company’s engine plant in Melrose Park, Ill. when gunfire rang out around 10 a.m. local time in the office area of factory. Authorities found an assault rifle and a pistol on the scene. In addition, several witnesses also reported seeing the man with a shotgun.
Police say the man was a disgruntled former employee, but refused to release his name at this time. They confirmed the deaths of three of the victims this morning, and medical examiners said a fourth victim had died of injuries later this afternoon. Including the gunman himself, the death toll stands at five.
Michael Kalagian, a Navistar engineer who fled when the shooting erupted, told local media that while he didn’t see the gunman, some of his co-workers had recognized the man as a former employee.
Kalagian explained the man they described had been “fired two or three years ago for engine thefts.”
“I just heard several, several gunshots,” said Kalagian. “I heard, I heard three, three initially, and then when I was running for the exit I heard about three, three, four more.”
The Navistar plant is located some 15 miles from the company’s downtown Chicago headquarters and employs about 1,400 people.