Ohio Shooter A Stranger To Victims

Authorities say a man opened fire with two handguns Thursday morning at an Ohio office of a trucking company that once employed him in Georgia. Two people were killed and three others were injured before the gunman fled. Police arrested him at an Indiana truck stop more than two hours later.

Police identified the suspect as Tom West, 50, who had worked for Watkins Motor Lines in Atlanta. Police Chief John Bruce said the employees in the West Chester office where the shooting took place did not know him.

"We believe that the suspect shot at anyone and everyone he saw," Bruce said. "We have nothing to lead us to believe that he had a grievance against a specific person.

Watkins Motor Lines, based in Lakeland, Fla., issued a statement saying West had worked out of the Atlanta office from 1998 until he resigned in 2001. The company did not say why he left, and West Chester police said they did not know.

West, also known as Joseph John Eschenbrenner III, was charged with two counts of aggravated murder and three counts of attempted murder, Bruce said. Police brought him back to Ohio and he was to be arraigned Friday morning, Bruce said.

The attack began shortly before 10 a.m. in an industrial park in suburban Cincinnati.

The gunman drove past a security checkpoint at Watkins Motor Lines, then walked into a dispatcher office lined with desks and opened fire on five men, Capt. David Kelly said. About a dozen shell casings littered the floor. The office and a large warehouse sit among dozens of semitrailers parked in rows.

About two and a half hours later, Indiana state police received a tip that a man in a truck stop was saying police were looking for him. West was arrested inside the truck stop just off Interstate 74 near New Point, Ind. He was eating a meal when officers arrived and responded "yes" when police asked if he should be handcuffed, authorities said.

West wasn't armed. His van was taken back to Ohio, where authorities obtained a warrant to search it late Thursday.

The two men who died were Donald Haury, 50, of Bellbrook, and Bob Lines, 65, of Cincinnati, Bruce said.

Two of the wounded were listed in serious condition with chest wounds. The third man, Billy Claywell, 48, of Cave City, Ky., was treated and released.

"I feel pretty well, I guess," he said Thursday night, saying he did not know the gunman. "It was just one of those things."

Steve Stacey, 38, a nine-year employee, said: "You see this in other places and other areas and you never expect it. Everybody's in shock. You don't expect it. It's just mind-boggling how this could even happen or why."

Watkins Motor Lines transports freight and has more than 12,000 employees at 132 locations. The West Chester office employs 313 people.

By James Hannah