MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — The driver for Mississauga-based carrier Liquiterminals accused in the shooting death of GM Mike O’Rourke, was not owed money by the company, say company officials.

Jean Delagrave, 49, from Ottawa, has been charged with the first degree murder of O’Rourke and with the attempted murder of company dispatchers Jurgen Zimmerman and Michael Lloyd Bunney, currently recovering in hospital.

A Toronto Star news report indicated the shooting may have been linked to a dispute over money owed to the driver by the carrier.

But officials for the liquid bulk hauler, which owns about 50 power units and employs about that many drivers, primarily independent contractors, say this is not the case.

The driver, who stopped working for Liquiterminals over a year ago, was employed by an owner/operator with several trucks subcontracted to the company, Liquiterminals officials explained. If money was owed to the driver it was owed by the subcontractor.

Delagrave is currently under suicide watch in a jail cell. He is slated to appear in Brampton court May 17.

According to sources inside the company, the shooting occurred at approximately 11 a.m. Friday morning, when Delagrave allegedly walked into the Liquiterminals office at 2650 Windsor Drive, just east of Winston Churchill Blvd., and went directly upstairs to an office at the back of the building where he fired three shots, striking the three men.

O’Rourke, from Newmarket, reportedly died of gunshot wounds at the scene. “Red” Zimmerman, in his mid-50s was shot in the chest but is now recovering in hospital. Bunney had emergency surgery at Mississauga’s Trillium Health Centre to repair a bullet wound in his colon.

Delagrave reportedly then left the building, and was already walking along Royal Windsor Dr. and into the Clarkson community policing station nearby when police arrived at the scene. Delagrave turned himself in about 20 minutes after the shooting according to the Toronto Star report.

A handgun which police believe may have been used in the shootings was located shortly thereafter.

The Liquiterminals office has since reopened, but officials say the company will be closed for a half-day tomorrow, for O’Rourke’s funeral.

O’Rourke, who was 48 years old, is survived by his wife Anna, his daughter Lindsay, 20, and his son McKenzie, 12.
Visitation for O’Rourke will be held at the Taylor Funeral Home Newmarket Chapel, 524 Davis Dr., today, from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. (A Masonic service will start at 7 p.m.)
Visitation will continue tomorrow, from 9:30 – 11 a.m.
The funeral will follow, at St. John Chrystosom Roman Catholic Church at noon, and burial at the Newmarket Cemetery.

Memorial donations can be made to the Shriners Children’s Hospital. Friends are also invited to sign an online book of condolences at www.taylorfuneralhomenewmarket.com
— With files from the Toronto Star