Police officers confer near the scene where three people were killed, including the gunman, at a UPS facility in Birmingham, Ala.BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A UPS employee opened fire this morning inside one of the company's warehouses in Alabama, killing two people before committing suicide, police said.
Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper told reporters that the gunman was wearing his uniform when he started shooting either in or near some offices inside the warehouse in an industrial area just north of the Birmingham airport. The sand-colored building sits on a hill and has UPS logos on the front and side. It has a parking lot surrounded by barbed wire.
The gunman had apparently shot himself by the time officers got inside the warehouse, Roper said.
Police Lt. Sean Edwards told The Associated Press on Tuesday morning that the gunman was a UPS employee, though he said later in the day that police had not yet met with company officials to confirm the gunman's current employment status. People who called 911 from their cellphones told dispatchers that the shooter was an employee, Edwards said.
No one else was hurt, Roper said.
"When these people came here to work, they had no idea this would be their last day on earth," Roper said.
Atlanta-based UPS said in a brief statement that the shooting happened around 9:40 a.m. CDT. The company added that it is fully cooperating with the investigation.
Employees who were at the warehouse when the shooting happened were being taken to another location so that they could be interviewed by investigators and provided with counseling, Roper said.
Late Tuesday morning, a long line of police cars with their lights flashing left the area as part of a motorcade with a white school bus. Also, a wrecker with a police escort left the scene towing a dark red Honda SUV.