Hartford Distributors Shooting: Angry Employee Allegedly Kills Multiple People

MANCHESTER, Conn. (CBS/WFSB/AP) Authorities say several people were killed when a warehouse driver who had been asked to resign his job at a beer distributor opened fire there Tuesday morning.

State police Lt. J. Paul Vance says the number of deaths hasn't been confirmed in the shootings in Manchester, Conn. The gunman is believed to be among the dead.

Officials said at a morning press conference that the scene has been secured and a criminal investigation is underway. The condition and location of the shooter was not immediately clear. A fire at the warehouse about 10 miles east of Hartford was put out around the saem time as the shooting.

Hartford Hospital officials said three gunshot victims were taken there. Hospital officials said one victim was in critical condition and one was in fair condition at the hospital. A third victim there was among the dead.

"We're now just trying to figure out who's shot, who's not accounted for," said Brett Hollander, the director of marketing at Hartford Distributors. About 50 to 70 people were inside during the gunfire because it was a shift change, he said.

Hollander's cousin, a vice president at the company, was shot in the arm and the face, Hollander said, but he thought he would be OK.

CBS affiliate WFSB in Hartford reports that the gunman remained inside the building.

A woman told WFSB reporter Len Besthoff that her husband, who worked at the building, called her at about 7:20 a.m. to tell her about the shooting. The woman said her husband hid outside during the gunfire, and was uninjured.

The woman said her husband estimated about 20 rounds were fired and that the gunman was a person who either worked or once worked for the company. The man said he saw about five or six people injured

Multiple ambulances and SWAT team members were called to the scene.

Hollander, whose family owns the distributor, said he did not know the shooter well and didn't know how long he had worked there.

Police officers from numerous agencies and police and fire vehicles surrounded the warehouse, on a tree-lined road in an industrial park just west of a shopping mall. A SWAT team with a police dog was walking around the property a couple of hours after the shooting.

The company has more than 100 employees.