Official: 9 killed in Conn. warehouse shooting

MANCHESTER, Conn. (AP) — A warehouse driver who was asked to resign his job at a beer distributor went on a shooting rampage Tuesday morning that left nine people dead, including himself, and others wounded, company and state officials said.

The number of dead was confirmed by a Connecticut government official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Authorities were notifying victims' relatives before confirming the number of deaths, state police Lt. J. Paul Vance said.

The driver had worked at the distributor for a couple of years and been called in for a disciplinary hearing, said John Hollis of the Connecticut Teamsters, who was with company officials at the scene of the shooting.

Hollis would not say why the driver was being disciplined.

About 50 to 70 people were in the warehouse during a shift change when the gunman opened fire, said Brett Hollander, the director of marketing at Hartford Distributors. Adding to the chaos was a fire at the warehouse, about 10 miles east of Hartford, that has been put out.