On Wednesday afternoon, an employee of Molson Coors Brewing Co. opened fire on his fellow employees on the Milwaukee campus, killing five people before taking his own life.
“Police were called to the complex where beer has been brewed for more than a century at 2:08 p.m,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. “Ten minutes later, employees were notified by email that an active shooter was in or near the second-floor stairwell of the sprawling factory’s Building 4. Police found the suspect dead from a gunshot wound inside one of the buildings. Five employees were found dead in the same building, Morales said.”
Authorities say the the shooter, who has been identified as a 51-year-old employee of the company, was armed with two handguns, including one with a silencer.
“Neither law enforcement, nor government nor company officials would address the motive for the shooting,” the Journal Sentinel reports.
At the beginning of his televised address on the coronavirus Wednesday, President Trump took a moment to express condolences for the victims and their families of the Milwaukee shooting and to condemn the “wicked murderer” who took five of his colleagues’ lives.
“Before I begin, I’d like to extend my deepest condolences to the victims and families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said the president at the start of the press conference Wednesday evening.
“Earlier today, a wicked murderer opened fire at a Molson Coors Brewing Company plant, taking the lives of five people,” said Trump. “A number of people were wounded, some badly wounded. Our hearts break for them and their loved ones. We send our condolences. We’ll be with them. And it’s a terrible thing, terrible thing. So our hearts go out to the people of Wisconsin and to the families.”
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett addressed the horrific shooting in a joint press conference Wednesday evening.
“This is a time for us to think about those families because there were five individuals who went to work today, just like everyone goes to work, and they thought they were going to go to work, finish their day and return to their families. They didn’t, and tragically they never will,” said Barrett, as reported by the Journal Sentinel.
“The hearts of the people of Wisconsin go out to the folks that were needlessly murdered,” Milwaukee Gov. Tony Evers said at the event during which he asked for a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims.
Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley announced in an email to employees Wednesday that the brewery would be closed for the rest of the week to give employees and families a chance to “cope” with the “unthinkable tragedy.”