Poultry Plant Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, Execution Style (VIDEO)
Lawrence Jones, an employee at a Fresno poultry plant in California, opened fire on Tuesday killing two of his co-workers and taking aim at others. Afterwards, he turned the gun on himself and committing suicide.
The 42-year-old man's motive remains unknown although police have stated that Jones clearly targeted his victims. An ex-convict, Jones approached each of his victims from behind, shooting them in either the head or the neck.
"He walked around them in order to get very close to the intended targets, place the gun very close and fire a round," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told the Associated Press. "He had opportunity to shoot other co-workers that were in the business at this time, but he chose not to."
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Employees in the factory were wearing ear protectors in the midst of loud and clanking machinery, which prevented any of them from hearing gunshot noises. Jones was able to walk up to each of his victims without notice and shoot them from behind within feet of each other.
Jones fired shots at a total of five people at Valley Pride, but ran out of bullets once he came to his fifth victim, according to AP. He instead headed outside, where he reloaded his gun and then shot himself.
Roger Medina, a nearby witness, stated that he saw a man running down the street on Tuesday screaming that somebody was shooting.
"I look down the street," he told ABC News. "People in full sanitary gear, the hairnets and all, were running and screaming. Some people were crying."
By this time, Jones had already shot himself outside of the factory, although he did not die immediately. He was reported dead a few hours later a the local hospital. No motive has been discovered for the shooting as of yet, but according to the police chief, some rumors have been uncovered about a disagreement.
"We are still trying to follow up on some rumors regarding a dispute between Jones and one of the other co-workers, but we have not been able to verify it at this point," Dyer told AP.
Two of Jones' victims were pronounced dead, one is in critical condition, and the other was treated and released from the hospital.
