- Brandon Scott Hole, 19, stormed the FedEx in Indianapolis on Thursday night where he killed eight people and injured seven others before turning the gun on himself
- FedEx has confirmed he was a former employee who last worked for them in 2020. His family say that the 19-year-old had previously been fired but it was not immediately clear when
- Investigators searched Hole’s home in Indianapolis on Friday morning and seized evidence, including desktop computers and other electronic media
- Hole had a previous encounter with police in March last year when they were called to detain him after he allegedly voiced suicidal ideas after buying a shotgun 24 hours earlier
- Police have not publicly released a motive for the deadly rampage that started when Hole got out of his car in the FedEx parking lot and immediately opened fire with his rifle
- He kept shooting as he made his way inside before killing himself as police arrived on the scene
- Four people were killed outside the building and another four inside. Several people were also wounded, including five who were taken to the hospital
- On Friday night, police released the names of his eight victims
- They include Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Skhon, 48; Karlie Smith, 19; and 74-year-old John Weisert
Three FedEx employees murdered by a 19-year-old gunman who opened fire at an Indianapolis FedEx, killing eight before turning the gun on himself, have been identified.
Brandon Scott Hole, of Indiana, stormed the FedEx operations center in Indianapolis on Thursday night, killing eight and injuring seven others while more than 100 people worked inside, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said.
FedEx have confirmed that Hole was a former employee who last worked for them in 2020. Hole’s family told Fox59 that he had previously been fired but it was not immediately clear when.
His mother had reportedly called the police that year over fears her son might commit ‘suicide by cop.’
On Friday night, police released the names of his eight victims. They include Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Skhon, 48; Karlie Smith, 19; and 74-year-old John Weisert.
The names of surviving victims have not been released.
‘My dad’s life was senselessly and needlessly cut short by a sick, depraved human being out for revenge against a former employer. I don’t understand and will never understand the reason for this kind of random violence,’ Mike Weisert wrote about his father on Facebook.
‘He was a GOOD man. He was a great father. He was a wonderfully devoted and faithful husband of almost 50 years to my mom. And he was a man who worked very hard throughout his life to provide the best home he possibly could for his family.’
On Friday night, police released the names of his eight victims including Samaria Blackwell, 19.
Businessman Gurinder Singh Khalsa, who identified himself as a leader of the local Sikh community, told Reuters that he had spoken with the families of four members of the Sikh community killed in the attack.
Johal was reportedly planning to work a double shift so she could take Friday off. She had just picked up her check and decided to head home when she was gunned down.
The check in her hand when they found her, the IndyStar reports.
Her family were stunned and devastated by the grandmother’s loss.
‘I am heartbroken to confirm that my nanjii (maternal grandmother), Amarjeet Kaur Johal, is among those killed in the senseless shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis,’ her grandson tweeted.
‘We are still working to identify others who were injured and killed on Thursday night,’ he continued. ‘I have several family members who work at the particular facility and are traumatized. My nani, my family and our families should not feel unsafe at work, at their place of worship, or anywhere. Enough is enough — our community has been through enough trauma.’
The grandson added that one of the other victims, who he did not name, had just joined the company from India and just picked up his first check when he was killed.
A police report obtained by WTHR shows authorities were called to Hole’s home in March last year to detain him after he allegedly voiced suicidal ideas after buying a shotgun 24 hours earlier. In that incident, the report said police, who later took Hole to hospital, had ‘seized shotgun from dangerous person’.
Investigators searched Hole’s home in Indianapolis on Friday morning and seized evidence, including desktop computers and other electronic media. Sources say he was previously known to police and that his family had warned authorities of potential violence prior to the FedEx rampage.
FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan told a reporter for Fox59 that ‘the suspect’s mother contacted law enforcement to report he might try to commit ‘suicide by cop’.’
‘The suspect was placed on an immediate detention mental health temporary hold by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department,’ Keenan said.
‘Based on items observed in the suspect’s bedroom at that time, he was interviewed by the FBI in April 2020. No Racially Motivated Violent Extremism (RMVE) ideology was identified during the course of the assessment and no criminal violation was found.’
Keenan told Fox59 that ‘the shotgun was not returned to the suspect’ after the incident last March.
Hole’s stepsister, who did not want to be identified, described him as ‘isolated’ and said their father died by suicide in 2004, she told NewsNation affiliate WXIN-TV.
‘We do have a lot of mental illness in our family and he never got the help that he needed,’ she said.
Police have not publicly released a motive for the deadly rampage that started when Hole got out of his car in the FedEx parking lot and immediately opened fire with his rifle late on Thursday. He kept shooting as he made his way inside before killing himself as police arrived on the scene.
Four people were killed outside the building and another four inside. Several people were also wounded, including five who were taken to the hospital.
Family members of the victims spent agonizing hours awaiting word on their loved ones before the names were finally released.
‘Chaplains and Victims Assistance Unit have remained at the family reunification center, providing support to survivors and families throughout the night and into today,’ police said in a press release on Friday.
‘The Marion County Coroner’s Office continues to work diligently to identify victims and make notifications to families. Victims’ names will be released publicly as soon as is possible.’
Police Chief Randal Taylor noted that a ‘significant’ number of employees at the facility are members of the Sikh community.
In a statement posted by the FBI on Twitter, Keenan said: ‘Many of you have already asked what the motive of this shooting was, and with less than 12 hours since the shooting, it would be premature to speculate on the suspect’s motivations.’
Describing the rampage, Deputy police chief Craig McCartt said earlier on Friday that the carnage took just a couple of minutes.
‘It did not last very long,’ he said.
‘The suspect came to the facility. He got out of his car and pretty quickly started some random shooting. There was no confrontation. He just started randomly shooting. He went into the facility for a brief period of time,’ he said.
McCartt said he doesn’t believe the gunman made it through a security area where employees are required to show ID and go through metal detectors.
In the early hours of Friday morning, more than 100 frantic relatives of warehouse workers rushed to the scene before being told to wait at a nearby hotel for news on the victims.
Some were seen still dressed in their pajamas and many were still waiting to be reunited with relatives by mid-morning on Friday.
‘When you see notifications on your phone, but you’re not getting a text back from your kid and you’re not getting information and you still don’t know where they are… what are you supposed to do?’ said Mindy Carson, holding back tears in the early hours of Friday. Her daughter, Jessica, works in the facility and she still had not heard from her.
Police said the ‘frustrating’ delay in reuniting relatives was due to the fact that some employees are not allowed to carry their cellphones on them while on the warehouse floor.
That policy meant many employees were forced to flee without being able to retrieve their phones, which are often locked away elsewhere. FedEx is understood to be reevaluating this policy in the wake of the shooting.
Police said they do not believe the cellphone policy meant they delayed in receiving the initial 911 calls reporting the incident.
FedEx Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frederick Smith called the shooting a ‘senseless act of violence.’
‘This is a devastating day, and words are hard to describe the emotions we all feel,’ he wrote in an email to employees.
Employees have since detailed their accounts of the rampage, with one employee Levi Miller telling NBC’s Today that he heard more than a dozen shots before he saw the hooded gunman screaming and firing.
‘I stand up, I see a man, a hooded figure,’ he said. ‘I was unable to see his face in detail. However, the man did have an AR in his hand, and he started shouting and then he started firing at random directions.’
Miller said he didn’t recognize the gunman but his colleagues had said he was a ‘well-known worker at this facility’. He said it was possible the gunman was trying to target the manager.
Other eyewitness accounts also confirmed the gunman was armed with a rifle.
One eyewitnesses reported seeing a ‘man with a sub-machine gun or automatic rifle’ firing in the open before people started fleeing.
Two more eyewitnesses reported seeing a man getting a gun from the trunk of his car.
One victim’s uncle told Fox59 his niece had been sitting in her car when a gunman opened fire on her. He said she was recovering in hospital.
Another man told WTTV that his niece was sitting in her car in the driver’s seat when the gunfire erupted, and she was wounded. ‘She got shot on her left arm,’ said Parminder Singh. ‘She’s fine, she’s in the hospital now.’
He said his niece did not know the shooter.
WRTV reports that workers hid under conveyor belts during the incident.
Timothy Boillat, another employee at the facility, told WISH-TV that he saw around 30 police cars arriving at the scene as he witnessed the shooting unfold.
‘After hearing the shootings, I did see a body on the floor,’ he said. ‘Luckily, I was far enough away to where he [the shooter] didn’t see me.’
Daily Mail UK
