Athens mourns in wake of shootings

Staff photo by Ben Benton Crime scene tape hangs across plants at the entrance to Thomas & Betts Corp., in Athens, Tenn., where a longtime employee shot two supervisors to death on Thursday before turning the gun on himself.
Staff photo by Ben Benton Crime scene tape hangs across plants at the entrance to Thomas & Betts Corp., in Athens, Tenn., where a longtime employee shot two supervisors to death on Thursday before turning the gun on himself.

ATHENS, Tenn. - Vigils began within hours of a shooting Thursday that claimed two lives before the gunman took his own life at an Athens industrial plant.

One gathering early Friday at nearby McMinn County High School was attended by employees of Thomas & Betts Corp., where the shooting happened. Another vigil was held a few hours later on the courthouse steps, and Athens officials said other groups and churches were working to organize more events over the weekend.

As the small East Tennessee town mourns, authorities are trying to piece together answers to why a longtime employee of the local plant decided to kill his two supervisors.

The slain were identified as 44-year-old James Zotter and 68-year-old Sandra Cooley. The gunman was identified as 45-year-old Ricky Swafford, according to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials.

All three were Athens residents.

The second shift was working at the plant when Swafford became upset during a meeting with Zotter and Cooley. Swafford abruptly left, walked out to the parking lot and returned with a gun and shot both supervisors, TBI officials said. Police got the call at 4:16 p.m.

"There are no appearances at this point that this was anything that was planned," TBI spokeswoman Susan Niland said. "He did have a meeting with his supervisors, and it was during that meeting that he apparently experienced some agitation."

After killing Zotter and Cooley, Swafford continued to walk through the plant.

Some employees were able to warn others Swafford was armed and firing shots, Niland said Friday morning. Many of those employees either evacuated the building or locked themselves inside rooms in the plant, Niland said. No one else was injured.

When police arrived a few minutes later, they found Swafford dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot in a bathroom.

Authorities said Swafford, who had worked at the plant for more than 15 years, had a state-issued handgun carry permit and no known criminal history.

Under a state law enacted in 2013, workers with carry permits are allowed to store firearms in vehicles parked at work regardless of their employers' wishes. Thomas & Betts manager Pat Joyce said the company has an employee policy concerning firearms, but he declined to elaborate.

Niland said Swafford had no apparent criminal record. She could not confirm whether he had retrieved the gun from his car.

"He came in and appears to have gone directly to the office where the two supervisors were and went directly to their location and that's when he commenced shooting them," Niland said.

Athens, a town about halfway between Chattanooga and Knoxville, is a somewhat isolated, tight-knit community of about 14,000, situated less than 20 miles west of the Appalachian Mountains.

On Friday at the Thomas & Betts plant, which employs about 350, there was quiet and solemnity.

Thomas & Betts' headquarters is in suburban Memphis. The company designs and makes electrical components for industrial, commercial, lighting and utility markets.

Pat Joyce, area operations manager for Thomas & Betts, said officials and workers with the company are "heartbroken" over the shootings, according to the Associated Press.

"[Thursday], we lost colleagues in a senseless act of violence. We have absolutely no understanding of what motivated the perpetrator," Joyce said. "We employ hardworking, talented, incredible, gifted people. We mourn as a community and as a community of co-workers."

Joyce said the company is grateful for the police response and is cooperating with the investigation.

He said the plant will remain closed until the company is ready to resume operations, and that employees will be paid "during this time of grief."

Athens Police Chief Chuck Ziegler called the slayings "the most tragic workplace incident I've seen in my 45 years here."

Ziegler said the response from local officials proved invaluable in the hours following the shootings, lending support and manpower. McMinn County Director of Schools Mickey Blevins opened up McMinn County High School for investigators to use to interview witnesses and Thomas & Betts employees, he said.

People dropped by City Hall to offer help, words of comfort, or to leave bottled water for the emergency workers, Ziegler said, as an officer stepped into the room to tell the chief someone had just left a case of Gatorade at the department's back door.

"This community really deserves some recognition for the support they've shown to the emergency services that responded to this incident and to the families of the victims and the employees of the plant," he said.

Athens Mayor Ann Davis said people in the town seemed depressed Friday.

"They're relating to the loss and how it happened," Davis said. "They're thinking about the victims' families and the shooter's family."

Davis joined her fellow Athenians in mourning.

"I hope the families find some comfort in the amount of support and prayer that is happening in this community," she said.

TBI officials said the bodies of the victims and the shooter have been set for autopsies in Knoxville and those findings, as well as the results of the investigation, will be turned over to 10th Judicial District Attorney General Steve Crump's office for review.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.

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