3 dead in Albuquerque office rampage

A gunman targeting his live-in girlfriend opened fire at a fiber optics manufacturing plant Monday, killing two people and wounding four others before turning the weapon on himself, police say.

The gunman was identified by police as Robert Reza, a former employee of Emcore Corp., where hundreds of workers fled after the shooting broke out shortly before 9:30 a.m.

“We believe it is a workplace domestic violence situation,” Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said, adding that the girlfriend, who had told co-workers that she feared for her safety, was among those wounded. The couple’s two children were safe, he said.

Reza confronted his girlfriend outside and then retreated into the building when police arrived about three minutes after the first 911 call, authorities say. He had fired more than 20 rounds, indicating he had reloaded his gun. Fearful other people could be shot, officers moved into the building swiftly.

“They didn’t wait for backup,” Schultz said. “They did exactly what they were trained to do.... They went in as a team.”

As panicked workers streamed from the building, the officers found one victim lying dead in the parking lot. Reza was found inside dead. He apparently shot himself, Schultz said.

While the armed response team checked for a possible second shooter, other officers carried bloodied victims to their patrol cars and raced them to waiting ambulances, he said.

Five victims with gunshot wounds were brought to University of New Mexico Hospital, said Dr. Robert Bailey, the hospital’s incident commander.

One, a woman, died in surgery. Another patient underwent surgery and was admitted in “guarded but solid condition,” Bailey said. Another patient was also in guarded condition, according to Schultz, and the other two were stable.

Early on, police had reported that six people were killed. Schultz blamed the discrepancy on confusion at the shooting scene.

“This was an ongoing, dynamic situation,” he said. “When the active shooter team went in, they came across victims. They thought they were deceased.”

Darren White, the city’s public safety director, said he saw some of the officers who helped evacuate the building, their uniforms still covered in blood.

“They were doing everything they could to save these victims,” White said.

Emcore, a multinational firm based in Albuquerque, specializes in fiber optics and high-efficiency photovoltaic technology.

Schultz said a total of 220 employees from two buildings at the several-acre site near Kirtland Air Force Base were taken to a community center. The workers were checked by paramedics and met with detectives and grief counselors.

Reza’s criminal history had consisted of two drunk driving arrests, one seven years ago, the other 10 years ago.

Haederle writes for The Times.