Gunman Kills 3, Self At Philly Office Park

One Other Injured Before Gunman Killed Himself At Business Meeting

(CBS/AP)  A man who killed three people and himself at a marketing company was upset about losing money in a failed real-estate venture and told his victims to "say your prayers" before he opened fire, police said Tuesday.

Vincent Dortch, 44, took an assault rifle and a .40-caliber handgun to an investors meeting he had organized Monday night, authorities said.

Minutes after the meeting started, he told the group, "You have a minute or two to say your prayers," police inspector Joseph Fox said. Another man who was shot during the attack was in critical condition Tuesday.

Police found a scene of "utter chaos" in the offices of Zigzag Net Inc., Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross said.

Two victims were found on the floor, and another was in a chair, all with "wounds to various parts of the body," Ross said. "The officer mentioned to me that he had to take a knife out to cut this person loose." None of the police officers was hurt.

Dortch, 44, of Newark, Del., and two other men at the meeting had lost money on the failed deal, perhaps as much as $500,000 combined, police said.

Those two other investors were bound with duct tape, but they were not shot, Ross said. Police said the survivors told them they had talked Dortsch out of driving to New York state, where he planned to shoot another person.

Police identified the victims as Robert Norris, 41, of Newark, Del.; Mark Norris, 46, of Pilesgrove, N.J.; and James Reif, 42, of Endicott, N.Y. Zigzag's Web site lists Mark Norris as president and CEO.

The injured man, Patrick Sweeney of Maple Shade, N.J., was taken to Thomas Jefferson Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition Tuesday. He is listed as Zigzag's human resources manager.

Despite being bound and shot several times, Sweeney had broken free and managed to call police. Officers entered the office building behind Dortch, and exchanged gunfire with him in a second-floor hallway.

Dortch, who may have been shot by police, then ducked behind a door and fatally shot himself in the head, Fox said.

Dortch had invested in an apparent startup company called Watson International, to which at least two of the victims had ties. The site lists Robert Norris as vice president of business development. His wife, Patricia, on Tuesday declined to answer questions about the meeting or comment on the shootings.

Mark Norris and Robert Norris are brothers, said Aaron Haydn McLean, Zigzag's senior art director. Reif was also affiliated with Watson International, McLean said.

Both Robert Norris and Reif were retired law enforcement officers, police said.

Zigzag has about 15 employees, said McLean, who has worked there for about five years.

Meanwhile, across the country in Salt Lake City, a historic mall's winding hallways became a shooting gallery for a gunman in a trench coat who fired a shotgun randomly at customers, slaying five before being killed by police, authorities and witnesses said.

The old Philadelphia Navy Yard was one of the Navy's busiest shipbuilders during World War II but closed in 1995. Two years later, a private company, Kvaerner, resumed commercial shipbuilding in a portion of the shipyard, which is now known as Aker Shipyard. Other areas of the Navy facility have been converted to business and office use.

"Those who "whitewash" themselves with such monickers are witlessly advertising they're only capable of jumping to conclusions, and have neither the patience nor intellect to make rational choices and reactions."

Koolstuf:

What does YOUR "monicker" mean. Are you Kool? Do you post only Kool Stuff?

Why don't you wait until you read something I say before you "jump to conclusions" of your own and question MY intellect and rationality? I post often.

My comments may have been off subject, but the ********, Plowhandle, that I was replying to was in dire need of correcting. He was also labeled as a "disgusting freak", by jmhoriel who posted before me.

Koolstuf:

You didn't miss anything I said. I was just replying to the sick words posted by Plowshare.

Thankfully, His words were eradicated.

[KOOLSTUF]

Obviously, CBS Moderators erased comments that must have broken the rules, so others of us who
read all this later can't see what PLOWSHARES had
to say. I doubt we missed much !!! We could just as easly also missed ANYTHING that LIB DEMS SUCK
wants to say. Those who "whitewash" themselves
with such monickers are witlessly advertising
they're only capable of jumping to conclusions,
and have neither the patience nor intellect to
make rational choices and reactions.

It's a bit of a stretch to attach political over-
tones to the tragically frequent shoot-outs by
those who lose mind-control. But such events do
illustrate guns are in the hands of many people who shouldn't have them -- who are mentally off-
balance and/or untrained in appropriate uses.

Some elements of "Gun Control" can be justified;
while others REALLY do smack of excess official
intervention, or the potentials for it. At the
very least, hunting weapons and sports-use guns,
as well as restricted types of pistols for self-
protection, must be permitted -- but only those
registered to license-holders, who've been fully trained in safety and legality of uses. There's
absolutely no justification -- except for police
and military use -- of rapid-fire, multi-round types, or large caliber weapons and ammo.

[silver9991]

Yet again off-topic. Really enlightening. Not.

Plowhandle:

I guess you represent the Democratic party.

It seems that so many like you have so much hate, and direct a lot of it towards others that don't agree with your point of view.

I guess it would be a good thing to hand over control of the country to rabid leftists like yourself.

Well, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Your kind make it easy for others to hate too, especially "Democrats" like you.

Plowhandle:

I guess you represent the Democratic party.

It seems that so many like you have so much hate, and direct a lot of it towards others that don't agree with your point of view.

I guess it would be a good think to hand over control of the country to rabid leftists like yourself.

well, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Your kind make it easy for others to hate too, especially "Democrats" like you.

[caityr1229]

The person that left a comment below me should probably go to hell for saying what he did. The men that lost their lives last night did absolutely nothing to deserve what they did. This was simply an investment gone bad. No one can ever tell if an investment is a good one or a bad one, this guy apparently made a bad one... that isn't Robert Norris, Mark Norris, or James Reif's fault, yet they were the ones to die over this! It really does show how our society chooses money over a life.

Plowhandle, what kind of a disgusting freak are you? First, just because someone loses money in an investment doesn't mean someone had to wrong them. Sometimes investments don't work out. They are a gamble. Second, where did political party come into this. Nothing here suggests that those slain were republicans and nothing suggests the party of the killer either. Your comments are beyond ridiculous. If they are representative of the type of people comprising your political party (whatever it may be, but obviously not republican), then I just have one more thing to confirm that I made the right choice with mine... which is republican by the way.

My sympathies to the families and friends of the dead...including those of the killer.

[rescue_2]

Its makes the familys of both shootings at the Philly Navy Yard and also the Trolly Mall p**s off that someone(s) have to go ahead and kill there love ones. Also like everybody else said that money is more important in life then someones life.

[legendary240]

These stories just dispense with the notion that all people are basically good doesn't it?

[oleander8]

[How sad but this is the world that we have built.
Posted by antoniof123 at 10:25 AM : Feb 13, 2007]


Maybe you built it - I didn't. And I'm tired of law-abiding citizens who just want to have a pleasant life being blamed for all the nut-jobs, bullies, and mental cases out there.

[gangesdak]

Violence is not to be encouraged. But we do not know what prompted this violence. This person may not be greedy or obsessed. It is possible that the people who got hurt wasted this person's investment in a shabby way.

[random_radar]

"This only goes to show how greedy and power mad people can be for money. Obviously this man was so obsessed about his money that he went balastic.
Posted by hhusted at 09:54 AM : Feb 13, 2007"

If you were cheated out of your money, you might be pretty angry. Perhaps the mistake was thinking that they could get away with taking someone else's money and they were wrong?

[antoniof123]

How sad but this is the world that we have built.

[trdofcorpam]

My prayers go out to all those hurt by this event. I don't know what pain, anguish, or evil made this man kill others and his self. Obviously this man sought a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

[hhusted]

This only goes to show how greedy and power mad people can be for money. Obviously this man was so obsessed about his money that he went balastic.

[tm_bailey]

It's sad that money is more important than someone's life...