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Fired UPS employee shoots 2, self at Birmingham facility

A shooter who is believed to have been recently fired from a UPS facility in Birmingham killed two of his former colleagues Tuesday morning.

By Gabrielle Levy
A UPS truck in Washington, DC. (UPI/ Billie Jean Shaw)
A UPS truck in Washington, DC. (UPI/ Billie Jean Shaw)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A gunman opened fire at a Birmingham, Ala., UPS facility, Tuesday, killing two employees before apparently turning the gun on himself.

Police received multiple phone calls just before 9:30 a.m. of an active shooter at a warehouse near the UPS facility offices on Inglenook Lane.

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As employees fled, police entered the building to find three dead, all white males.

"We have no information regarding the motivation," said Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper. "We have a pretty good idea about what transpired."

Roper said the shooter may have been fired as an employee at the facility Monday, but is still working to confirm that information.

The shooter, he said, was aged 45 and was wearing a UPS uniform. Police did not fire any shots, and there were no additional injuries.

"It is extremely troubling for the city, for the families involved. When they came to work today they had no idea it would be their last day alive on earth," Roper said. "They were just people working at their jobs."

Police escorted employees to a nearby auditorium, and Springville elementary and middle schools were placed on lockdown as a precaution, since there was a connection between one of the people involved in the shooting and a child at the school, St. Clair County officials said.

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"It was just a precaution in case he was still at large," said Phillip Johnson, facilities manager for the county school system.

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