Shooting At Jeep Plant In Ohio

A recently disciplined autoworker burst into a Jeep factory with a shotgun, ordered an employee to lure over three workers and then opened fire, killing a supervisor and wounding two others. He then fatally shot himself in the head.

The shootings at the Jeep Liberty Plant in Toledo began about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday when the gunman leveled the shotgun he had hidden under his coat at a woman and told her he was there to shoot three people, police Chief Mike Navarre said.

"He gave her three names. He told her who he wanted and who he was going to shoot," Navarre said.

The woman, who was not shot, got on a radio and called one of the men. A supervisor walked into the office, and the gunman shot him. The supervisor later died.

The woman then ran out of the office and warned co-workers over the radio, Navarre said. The police chief said it is not known whether the two other victims did not hear the woman's warning on the radio or if they were already in the office and were unable to escape.

Police identify the gunman as Myles Meyers, 54, of Toledo and say that by the time authorities arrived, Meyers had killed himself with a shot in the head. The conditions of the injured workers - one of whom was also a supervisor - were not released.

The bomb squad was called when police noticed wires coming out from under Meyers' coat, apparently from a homemade wire sling he had used to conceal the weapon. Police also said he had strapped a stuffed animal to the back of his neck.

The plant, near the Michigan border, is large - so while the wounded and dying lay on the floor - some employees went into panic mode while others worked along as usual, unaware that anything had gone wrong.

One plant employee, Richard Wohloamuth, says he was at the back of the plant's body shop about 9 p.m. and did not know anything was happening until he heard screams come over his supervisor's radio.

Wohloamuth said the shooting happened during the lunch break for second shift workers, at the front of the body shop where offices are located.

Dispatchers received 15 to 20 calls from people inside the auto plant after the shooting, and employees were running out of the building when authorities arrived. Officers were chasing the employees, not knowing who the shooter was, and not realizing he was already dead.

"It was pretty chaotic for a good 20 to 25 minutes," Navarre said.

Mary Beth Halprin, a spokeswoman for Chrysler Group, a division of Jeep's parent company DaimlerChrysler, said Meyers was disciplined recently for a minor infraction, but did not have details.

The supervisor who died is identified as Roy Thacker, 50, of the town of Oregon, according to a coroner's investigator. He died at a hospital.

The plant, which opened in 1997, employs almost 4,500 people on two shifts.

Worker Mike DeYoung told The (Toledo) Blade in Thursday editions that Meyers reported for his shift Wednesday afternoon, left during his lunch hour, and returned with the shotgun.

"I have been here 30 years. This is the worst day of my life," he told the newspaper.