A 34-year-old worker at a factory that makes fire hydrants in Albertville, Alabama, opened fire inside his workplace, killing two colleagues and injuring two others, before ending his life, police said.
According to local police authorities, Andreas Horton started shooting his colleagues with a pistol, around 2.30, while he was on his shift at the Mueller Co. factory.
Albertville Police Chief Jamie Smith told reporters that Michael Lee Dobbins and David Lee Horton were killed in the blaze. Two injured workers were taken to a hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and their condition is unknown.
Smith said authorities did not know if there was a relationship between the perpetrator and one of the victims, David Lee Horton.
The 34-year-old left the factory in a jeep and a few hours later was found dead in Gundersville, about 24 kilometers from Albertville. He probably shot himself. Several firearms were found inside the vehicle.
Horton’s motive has not been clarified.
More than 19,000 people have been killed in gun attacks in the United States since the beginning of the year, according to the non-profit research organization Gun Violence Archive. Earlier this month, a Los Angeles County firefighter shot and killed a colleague, injured a second and then killed himself. Last month, also in California, a tram maintenance worker killed nine of his colleagues, while in April, a 19-year-old former FedEx employee in Indianapolis shot and killed eight people before turning his shotgun on himself.
