Disgruntled Worker Kills Four at Conn. Lottery Office
A man armed with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol hunted down and shot to death four of his supervisors at the Connecticut state lottery office, the Washington Post reported March 7.
Matthew Beck, a lottery employee who reportedly was unhappy about being passed over for promotion, calmly walked in on one supervisor during an office meeting and shot her, then stalked the halls of the Newington, Conn., lottery headquarters and killed two other officials. Beck then chased lottery president Otho Brown into a nearby parking lot and killed the executive when he tripped and fell. Beck shot and killed himself as police closed in.
Beck reportedly was a gun collector who also was an avid paintball player. Co-workers and friends describe his as acting strangely and being depressed in recent months. Experts say that a recent uptick in workplace violence can be attributed both to increased availability of guns and increased stress in the workplace.