US beer warehouse killer claimed revenge for racism
Aug 6 10:36 AM US/Eastern
how can this be it's the North, Conn., there's no racists in the North only in gooberville
As he stalked a Connecticut beer warehouse with two pistols, mass killer Omar Thornton had one aim: to shoot as many white people as possible in revenge for what he said had been their racism.
"This place is a racist place. They treat me bad here. They treat all the black employees bad over here, too. So I had to take it into my own hands and handle the problem," Thornton said in a call to police immediately after killing eight former co-workers.
"I wish I could have got more of the people," he added in a quiet, calm voice.
Thornton's explanation for the massacre at Hartford Distributors on Tuesday emerges in a call made to police minutes, or even seconds before he committed suicide.
Claims emerged soon after the bloodbath that Thornton had complained to family and his girlfriend about racist treatment from the nearly all-white staff in the Manchester, Connecticut drinks depot.
But police said they had no direct evidence of racism, while company bosses and union representatives denied there'd been a problem.
Thornton had been fired from his job as warehouse driver that day because he was allegedly stealing beer while making deliveries. He brought two semi-automatic pistols to the warehouse and, immediately after losing his job, went on the rampage.
The police tapes, posted on the websites of the local Hartford Courant daily and The New York times, are Thornton's last known words and, at four minutes long, offer extensive insight into his disturbed mind.
"You probably want to know the reason I shot this place up," he tells the police officer before making the racism claims. |
