Workplace Killers Target Bosses

Smart Companies Take Precautions

(CBS)  In the wake of the latest shootings, criminal investigators say it's virtually impossible to predict who will turn into a work-place killer. But, as CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports, it's a virtual certainty that the chief target will be the boss.

That scenario was true in Honolulu earlier this week. It was also true in Johnson City, Tennessee earlier this year when Walter Shell went gunning for his lawyer. That he also happened to kill another man appears to have been an accident. Last June in Southfield, Michigan, Joseph Brooks was looking for his psychiatrist, but shot four others who got in his way. In Orange County, California, Arturo Torres ignored some coworkers, while chasing down his supervisor with an AK-47.

But work-place violence expert Joseph Kinney says that companies that try to identify potentially violent customers and coworkers beforehand are nearly always thwarted.

"We're often talking about people who otherwise are very bright, often very well educated people who engage in these types of acts," Kinney said.

Frustrated, more and more large companies are turning to security systems to feel safer. Some consultants now sell packages that include monitors, bulletproof glass and buzzers to alert supervisors of trouble and pre-planned escape routes in the office. In many cases, according to Kinney, it's not the openly hostile employee who will return with a gun, but those who feel the most threatened.

"Often these people feel socially isolated," says Kinney. "They have trouble taking direction well. They do have anger. They are often impulsive."

And they are entirely unpredictable. About as unpredictable as a fire, say the experts -- and the smart company takes precautions against both.