MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man who killed five co-workers, a UPS driver and himself after being fired in September was given a warning the week before the attack for being chronically late, according to personnel files released Monday by police.
Andrew Engeldinger, 36, was late to his job at Accent Signage Systems 35 workdays in a row in August and September, Minnesota Public Radio News reported (http://bit.ly/ROVkMN ).
A week before the shooting, the company's quality control manager, Rami Cooks, sent Engeldinger a letter calling his constant tardiness a problem that needed to be "rectified immediately." It was the most recent in a string of warnings given to the Minneapolis man.
Engeldinger's file shows he received a similar letter in 2011 about another string of late arrivals. Manager John Souter also entered several letters going back to 2006 in Engeldinger's file that described incidents in which co-workers said he was verbally abusive toward them, MPR reported.
Company officials had just fired Engeldinger for lateness and poor performance when he pulled out a gun and started shooting. He killed the company's founder, Cooks, three other Accent employees, and the UPS driver, and then killed himself.
Police say Cooks and Souter were the first two people Engeldinger shot. Souter survived.
Engeldinger's parents said they thought their son was mentally ill and that they tried to get him help but he refused and ultimately cut off contact with them.
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Information from: KNOW-FM, http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/stations/knowksjn/
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
