Six Dead In Kentucky Plant Rampage

Police: Man Told Girlfriend He Would Kill Superviser And Did; 4 Others Slain Before He Killed Self

(CBS/AP)  An angry employee opened fire at a western Kentucky plastics plant after an argument early Wednesday, fatally shooting a supervisor and four others before committing suicide, police and a company official said.

Twenty-five-year-old Wesley Higdon of Henderson warned his girlfriend two hours before his rampage that he would kill his boss.

Authorities say Higdon had an argument with his supervisor about wearing safety goggles Tuesday night, then called his girlfriend and said he was going to kill him.

The killings stunned the sleepy Ohio River town of about 28,000 people, where a local leader said many residents know or are related to a worker at the plant.

"Our whole community is in shock," Henderson County Judge-Executive Sandy Watkins said.

The rampage began shortly after midnight, when Higdon, a press operator, began arguing with a supervisor and was escorted from the building, company CEO Bud Philbrook told The Associated Press.

As the employee was leaving, he took out a gun, shot the supervisor, then charged back into a break room and shot several employees. Then he returned to the floor and shot another employee before killing himself, Philbrook said. Between 35 and 40 workers were inside the factory at the time.

"It's just total shock. It's something you read about in the paper," Philbrook said.

A man who called 911 frantically described the scene to a dispatcher, tallying up the number of dead around him.

"There's more than two people dead. There's like one, two, three, four, five people dead," the man said. "The supervisor is dead, too."

Officials are trying to determine the nature of the argument the employee had with his supervisor, Philbrook said. "There's certainly no record of untoward activity or performance prior to this situation," he said.

It wasn't clear if the employee was carrying the gun, or if he retrieved it after the argument. Under Kentucky law, business owners are allowed to prohibit people from bringing weapons onto the premises.

"We don't know if the gun was in the car or if he went somewhere to get it," Henderson police Lt. David Piller told CBS affiliate WLKY-TV.

At least one other person was injured, police said. The wounded victim was taken to St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center in Evansville, Ind., spokeswoman Cheryl Dauble said. That person was in critical care, she said, but declined to release further information.

The names of the gunman and the victims were not released. However, Henderson County Coroner Bruce Farmer confirmed the supervisor was among the dead. He said autopsies for all six were planned Wednesday.

Four of the victims were members of St. Michael's Catholic Church in Sebree, Ky., said the Rev. Jason McClure, who had spent much of the morning with the victims' families. McClure declined to identify those who were killed, at the request of the Henderson County coroner, but said their families and fellow parishioners were shocked by the shootings.

"They are very upset and hurting deeply and just trying to figure out what to do next," McClure said.

Hours after the shooting, police had set up a roadblock on the street leading to the plant, which is in an industrial area on the southern side of Henderson. Other employees at the plant were sent home.

Atlanta-based Atlantis Plastics has 1,300 employees worldwide, and about 150 in Henderson, where workers make parts for refrigerators and plastic siding for homes.

In a news release on the company's Web site, Atlantis Plastics said it is a leading U.S. manufacturer of three kinds of products: polyethylene stretch films for wrapping pallets of materials, custom films for industrial and packaging uses, and molded plastic pieces used in products such as appliances and recreational vehicles.

The company has annual sales of $110 million, according to business directory Hoovers.

[jpwalsh123]

I wish these rampages would lead to more talk of employee abuse and its consequences. I wonder how many employees who get treated like *** think about doing this sort of thing but don''''t. How many secretly applaud the ones who do?


This is the most thoughtful response to this situation. I have witnessed and have been subject to employer targeting and abuse. Untrained and unqualified managers and such abound with no one above them to check their behavior in dealing with situations requiring just an iota of intelligence and experience to deflate. I am only surprised that there are not more of these instances. Whenever I see one of these stories I can''t help wondering what led to it. Even though this is a country with easy access to firearms it is hard to believe that reasonable people would resort to this.

[closethippy1]

Or using anecdotal evidence from the most heinous crimes for their argument. This is not very convincing, and the other side will of course come up with their own anecdotal evidence, which means nothing.
Posted by incog-nito at 01:21 AM : Jun 26, 2008

Over 10,000 gun deaths a year after freaking year it''s NOT anecdotal. Only gun freaks look at these numbers without a care in the world and Americans should never surreneder their rights to a safe life to these people.

[incog-nito]

If you compare the death rate for guns in the U.S. against other countries with much stricter gun control, OF COURSE the U.S. will come out looking bad. If people can''t see this then they need a course in remedial statistics.

[incog-nito]

closethippy1: C''mon, you can do better than that. Guns can be used to hunt as well as to kill.

FYI: I am FOR gun control, NOT gun ban. Most other places like Europe have much stricter gun control than the U.S., but still not a gun ban. I can understand why some people want to ban guns. What I have a problem with is them using bad arguments to make their case, like comparing the crime rate from guns only instead of the overall crime rate of different countries with similar political systems (for example, Western industrialized countries). Or using anecdotal evidence from the most heinous crimes for their argument. This is not very convincing, and the other side will of course come up with their own anecdotal evidence, which means nothing.

[haoli25]

There should be the harshest of penalties for those that use guns in commission of their crimes. Unfortunately, the lawyers and lawmakers do not agree.
I have no problem if YOU want to surrender your rights and not own a gun, but if you want to surrender MY rights as well, I do have a problem with that. A BIG problem!
My gun is to protect me and my family from the people the courts are unwilling to do anything about.

By the way, Prohibition sure stopped drinking, didn''t it?

[closethippy1]

A machete or a knife can be used to kill as well as cook.
A gun doesn''t have two uses to it. It''s a primitive killing machine.
Even drug addicts can argue that what they use only affects them and not anyone else.
Guns cannot be explained away. They don''t fullfill a legality nor are they indispensable for self defense.
The savage nature of guns demands they be controlled and well regulated as stipulated in the Constitution.

[zertrat]

Here''s a reality check for those who think guns can be equated with knives or cars or fingernail clippers. If you were on the opposite side of the debate, if you believed that guns were more dangerous than knives, then here are the facts YOU would be churning out at this website with venom, and without guilt or conscience. Guns kill more innocent children than do knives. Guns kill more spouses in domestic disputes than do knives. Guns kill more innocent bystanders on the street than do knives. Guns kill more targets of murder than do knives. Guns kill more people in rage events than do knives. Etc etc. These facts are the same no matter what your political view. Not acknowledging them is called hypocrisy.

Right? Any of you want to dispute those facts?

Instead you argue, in effect, that we do not need to fight malaria, the greatest disease killer on the planet, because the flu sometimes kills too.

[loneeagle57]

My heartfelt condolences go out to the families.

[haoli25]

If only someone had a ''Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch'' to stop this from happening.

[zertrat]

All the talk about other ways to kill: knives or clubs or fires or fingernail clippers. This misses the point entirely.

None of those methods would lead to six dead from this Kentucky man''s rage. Handguns alone turn rage into slaughter. Fact. Argument done.