"charged with attempted murder after.... he shot at one of his coworkers"

Workplace violence is a hazard many workplaces are reluctant to discuss. That reluctance is because workplaces fear that they environment contributes to this hazard. Here is a recent incident at a manufacturing plant that uses a lot aluminum in their products.

 

A (local) man has been charged with attempted murder after authorities allege he shot at one of his coworkers at the (manufacturing) Company in (omitted). 

 

The criminal charges, filed in (omitted) County, allege 21-year-old (name omitted) was the shooter in on more during the week February 5, 2023 incident at his own workplace. 

 

The criminal charges state the (local) County Sheriff’s office received a report of an active shooter at the (manufacturing) Factory in the city of (omitted) at approximately 7:21 a.m.

Detective (name omitted) responded to the scene and found (accused worker) had already been apprehended.

According to the documents, an employee of (local) Hiring Agency, who had been working at the factory, told (detective) an argument led to the altercation.

The employee allegedly told the officer that (accused worker) grew upset during his shift and pulled out a handgun. After the witness tried to move away from (accused worker), he was shot at, but uninjured.

The employee then ran outside of the building where (accused worker) allegedly shot at him again.

Detectives on the scene recovered a bullet casing on the floor and a bullet hole, which were both found on the opposite side of where the confrontation began.

(Accused worker) is charged with attempted murder in the second-degree, assault with a dangerous weapon second-degree, intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety and carrying a pistol without a permit in a public place.

His first court appearance was (the following) morning, his bail has been set at $1 million with no conditions.

We are thankful that no one was injured in this incident.  Even though workers did not suffer physical injury. They may have suffered mental distress that needs to be addressed. After a workplace incident it is recommended that counselors be provided to the workers. This can be very challenging to workplaces for employees to admit either privately or publicly that they need help. There are some great examples in our industry for mental health campaigns. Light Metal Age magazine wrote an article on the topic of mental health:

We hope that the accused worker will get a fair hearing/trial. In addition, we hope that the workplace will investigate this incident for its root cause and not assign it to “a crazy worker”. Workplaces need to address this matter not only with their workers but with the supervisors. Supervisors are a group of workers who have more contact with individual workers than anyone else. Supervisors need to be trained on how to treat workers and how to observe the potential of workplace violence.

The Light Metal Age magazine covered this topic.

 

Please comment.