In 911 Call, Shooter Says He Regretted Not Killing More People
By DAVE ALTIMARI and DAVID OWENS, daltimar@courant.com
After killing eight people, Omar Thornton calmly called 911 and talked to a state police dispatcher for nearly four minutes, saying he "took things into his own hands" and regretted not killing more people before hanging up and killing himself as three police officers closed in.
"Hi, is this 911? This is Omar Thornton. The shooter over in Manchester,'' Thornton calmly told Trooper William Taylor.
"You probably want to know the reason why I shot this place up. Basically this is a racist place,'' Thornton told Taylor. "They treat me bad over here. They treat all other black people bad over here, too, so I just took things into my own hands and handled the problem. I wish I could have gotten more of the people."............
and here's a story that mentions how drivers come up. my dad was a teamster. my brother in law is a teamster. you HAVE TO pay your dues (so to speak). you start out low. you start out in the warehouse. THEN you get to drive. if you're new, you get the crap routes. the more seniority you have....well you know the story.
as i said, i cannot speak to how the shooter was actually treated. he may or may NOT have been racially harassed. there is no excuse for racism. period. but way way way beyond that, murder neither heals nor solves one fucking thing. it just opens huge wounds
Hartford Distributors President Remembers Those Who Died; Rejects Killer's Claims of Racism Hollander Fought To Improve Bloomfield Schools for Black Students
By DAVID OWENS, dowens@courant.com
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Some of the men who worked side-by-side with those who died Tuesday remembered them as good men and rejected the comments by Thornton and his friends and relatives claiming racism.
"I just want it to be known, it's not like that," said David Zylberman, 54, of Vernon, who has worked 34 years at Hartford Distributors, and saw Thornton open fire. "They are very good people."
"It's growing into something that's not really there," added Mike Pletscher, 57, of Bristol, another longtime employee. He said the claims of racism at Hartford Distributors are simply false. "There's nothing to it," he said.
He said he thinks Thornton may have felt mistreated because he was the lowest driver in seniority. "He didn't understand the system," Pletscher said. "He thought he was being picked on. When you're at the bottom you get the [expletive] jobs."
Union officials said this week that Thornton, who initially worked in the warehouse, complained to the union about not getting a driver job. Union officials explained to him that jobs were filled by seniority and that when his time came and a slot was open, he'd get a driver job, said Chris Roos, Teamsters Local 1035's secretary treasurer. And when a driver slot opened up about a year ago, Thornton got the job, he said..............
