Deliberately and methodically, a Fresno meat-processing plant employee shot four of his co-workers -- two fatally -- before killing himself Tuesday morning.
One at a time, Lawrence Jones, a 42-year-old with a long trail of criminal convictions, walked up to three of his victims, placed a handgun to each man's head or neck and fired. The noise of the plant, where many employees wear ear protection, might have left them and others unaware of the slayings in their midst, police say.
One woman who did see what was happening attempted to run, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. Jones fired at her, shooting her in the buttocks. That was the last shot he'd fire inside the plant. When he placed his gun against the head of another man, he pulled the trigger but had run out of bullets.
Then he went outside, reloaded and shot himself.
When police arrived at Valley Protein, on Hedges Avenue just east of Blackstone Avenue, they found Jones slumped against a chain-link fence along the street outside the plant with the gun at his side and a gunshot wound to the head, Dyer said. He was declared dead in the emergency room at Community Regional Medical Center.
Read the full Fresno Bee story here.
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