Two supervisors killed in Alabama UPS shooting
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- UPS says two employees killed in a shooting at a package-processing facility in Alabama were supervisors who had worked for the company for years.
The company released a statement Wednesday identifying the men as 46-year-old Brian Callans of Birmingham and 33-year-old Doug Hutcheson of Odenville.
Callans was a business manager who worked for the shipping giant for 26 years.
Hutcheson was a driver supervisor who had has been with UPS since 1999.
Police previously identified the men's killer as 45-year-old Kerry Joe Tesney of Trussville. UPS says Tesney had been with the company for 21 years but was recently terminated.
Authorities say Tesney entered his former workplace on Tuesday and opened fire, killing the two men before taking his own life. Police say Tesney was fired a day earlier.
The shooter entered after about 80 drivers had left for the day to deliver packages from the Birmingham center, UPS said, possibly avoiding even more bloodshed.
"It was a relatively small crew that was remaining," said Steve Gaut, a spokesman for the shipping company.
Authorities haven't released the slain people's names but said they were members of management.
Pastor Bill Wilks of NorthPark Baptist Church described the 45-year-old Tesney of the Birmingham suburb of Trussville, as having been troubled over his work and financial situation but said the shooting was unbelievable.
"I think it's been an ongoing situation," Wilks said. "In his own spirit he's been troubled, and he's asked for prayer about that."
Tesney and his wife have two children. The family has been active members of the church since 2003, Wilks said.
"He's just a guy who went through his trials at work. Certainly we have prayed for him," Wilks said.
The church held a prayer service Tuesday night for the Tesney family and the slain workers.
The UPS warehouse, a light brown building sitting on a hill with company logos on the front and side, is used to sort packages and send them out on trucks. The building has a parking lot surrounded by barbed wire.
The man was wearing a UPS uniform and opened fire either in or near some offices inside the warehouse in an industrial area just north of the Birmingham airport, Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper told reporters. Police said one body was found outside one of the offices and the other two were inside an office.
The gunman had shot himself by the time officers got inside the warehouse, Roper said.
Gaut would not say what Tesney's job duties had been before his firing was finalized Monday. Police said Tesney had gotten that final notice in the mail.
Aside from the job with the shipping giant, Tesney and his wife, Melissa, are listed as distributors for Advocare, a multi-level marketing company that sells health and fitness products. They have a website advertising the business that says: "Just tell us your needs, your dreams your desires ... and we'll make it happen!"
Jefferson County court records showed a Birmingham business sued Tesney and UPS in 2010 claiming he had wrongly picked up a $4,000 radiator for shipment either intentionally or by mistake. The lawsuit went on for years before a judge ruled in favor of Tesney and the shipping company a year ago on Sept. 23, 2013.
However, it was not immediately clear whether that lawsuit may have played a role in the firing.
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