A Stamford man was among eight victims killed Tuesday morning in an employee rampage at a Manchester beer distributor, reportedly the largest mass murder in Connecticut history.
Omar Thornton, 34, killed eight people in the 7:30 a.m. attack at Hartford
Distributors before committing suicide as police closed in.
According to the Hartford Courant, the victims included Louis J. Felder, an
operations director who was the father of three and active in the city’s
Jewish community.
Other victims killed in the attack included:
* William Ackerman, 51, a resident of South Windsor;
* Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington;
* Francis Fazio Jr., 57, or Bristol;
* Victor James, 60, of Windsor;
* Edwin Kennison Jr., 49, of East Hartford;
* Craig Pepin, 60, of South Windsor;
* Douglas Scruton, 56, of Manchester and Middleton, N.H.;
Authorities are investigating at least two possible motivations for the murders: plans by Hartford Distributors to end Thornton’s employment on suspicion of theft, and complaints by Thornton that he was the victim of racial discrimination at work.
Family members and acquaintances described Thornton to Courant reporters as a soft-spoken man who had not had legal problems. He reportedly called his mother Tuesday morning to confess to the shootings before hanging up.
