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Wisconsin Workplace Violence

April 11th, 2008 Posted by Amelia

Both 2007 and 2008 have seen several episodes of workplace violence.

The incidents once again point out the necessity for employers to develop strategies for dealing with the problem. Precautions should be taken against such violence by putting an emergency plan in action, taking measures to prevent incidents before they happen, and training both managers and employees in the right ways to respond when violence breaks out.

A gunman began shooting during a city council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri on February 7. The mayor was wounded and 3 city officials and 2 police officers were killed. The man was described as a political activist who had been removed forcibly from 2 previous city council meetings.

An armed robber killed 5 women on February 2 in a Lane Bryant women’s apparel store in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park. Pretending to make a delivery to the store, the man bound 6 women with duct tape in a back room of the mall shop. Two of the victims were customers who had come in when the robbery was underway.

The store manager made a 911 call. The robber discovered the call, became angry, and opened fire on the 6, killing 5. A nearby police officer arrived at the scene in one minute, but the robber had fled. The single survivor provided officers with a description of the man.

A campus shooting in DeKalb, Illinois, left 6 victims dead and 16 injured on February 14 before the gunman killed himself. Steven Kazmierczak stormed a lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University (NIU) and opened fire. Professors described him as an award-winning student.

A deadly episode occurred on October 5, 2007 in Alexandria, Louisiana.

A 63-year-old retired city maintenance worker entered a downtown legal office and shot 5 people, including a postal worker who was on the scene delivering mail. The postal worker and the son of an attorney died of their injuries. The gunman, John Ashley, was in a standoff with police for 10 hours. They finally used explosives to enter the building and kill him.

More Workplace Violence

From the tragic massacre at Virginia Tech to a shooting at Delaware State University and a stabbing at an Orlando Denny’s Restaurant, 2007 saw several incidents of workplace violence. The two more recent tragic episodes in Illinois and Missouri were simply the most recent.

A tragic event in September left two 17-year-old students dead at Delaware State. The school went on lockdown and the 1,700-member student body was confined to dormitories. Word of both the shooting and the lockdown went out over cell phones.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with several other law enforcement agencies, assisted campus police in the search for the shooter. Dover, Delaware police interviewed a student about the shooting later.

The Denny’s death during the Labor Day 2007 weekend occurred when an estranged husband stabbed his wife at the International Drive restaurant. Paramedics’ best efforts could not save the woman, who died of her wounds. While the woman was being brutally attacked, several families who had just come from Walt Disney World observed the incident. Customers and coworkers gave chase. The man escaped over a fence, leaving behind a shoe.

The Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007 left 32 students and staff dead and 17 more injured. OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the shooter demonstrated several signs of impending workplace violence. Seung-Hui Cho was not seeking treatment for his mental illness. He exhibited an unhealthy interest in weapons and flew into rages. He also developed unhealthy crushes on women he barely knew, and would engage in behavior similar to stalking. Police and university officials were criticized for their initial lack of response.

The incident at the University of Wisconsin involved a man who threatened to blow up an area hospital and fired several rounds near the building. Police said the bomb threat was false. The man was attempting to provoke a shoot-out with officers that would end in his death, police said.

“It’s a simple case of attempted ‘suicide by cop,’” said one officer at the scene, Burt Bruins.