History of Suspect in Plant Shooting Gave No Warning : Tragedy: Conflicting details about General Dynamics employee emerge a day after fatal shooting in San Diego.

A half hour before the terror began, six people sat down at a conference room table at the General Dynamics Convair Division plant near Lindbergh Field.

They were attending a grievance hearing for Robert Earl Mack, 42, a machinist who had worked for the company his entire adult life before his firing 11 days ago. A man described by some as quiet and hard-working, by others as a hostile employee whose hold on his job had been fraying for a long time.

Representing Mack on Friday were three union officials. Representing General Dynamics were James English, 52, Mack’s former supervisor, and labor relations representative Michael Konz, 25, a bright and aggressive up-and-comer, a night school law student with dreams.

The distance separating Mack from English, and especially from Konz--a distance defined by age, economics, schooling, race and fate--was far more than a few feet across the table. It proved fatal: Minutes later, Mack was under arrest, English was critically wounded, Konz was dead.

And police were trying to determine why Mack fired the shots that felled Konz and English and shattered a Friday afternoon at a plant that has been wracked by job losses and tension.

Although police and General Dynamics officials did not provide much new information Saturday, a more vivid picture of the incident and those involved emerged from interviews with union officials, co-workers and others.

Mack, who was arrested shortly after the shooting and is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, complained recently that he was unfairly singled out for harsh treatment because he is black, according to William Hickey, president of the International Assn. of Machinists Local 1125.

Mack had told Hickey several times in the past years, most recently six months ago, that he felt his supervisors on the Advanced Cruise Missile assembly line were unfairly targeting him for harsh discipline. He did not mention names of supervisors, Hickey said.

“He felt that he was a target,” Hickey said. “Because he was black, he had the feeling that he was being singled out.”

Hickey also said hundreds of ongoing layoffs at the company have created an uneasy atmosphere, making management especially aggressive about firing problematic employees.

“We are in a downgrade mode,” he said. “They adjust policy to fit conditions at the time.”

Company officials maintain Mack was fired because of attendance problems; a union source said the specific issue was frequent tardiness.

One of Mack’s former supervisors, who asked not to be identified, said he was not surprised at the cause of the firing. He said Mack was aloof and frequently absent or late when he worked with the supervisor five years ago.

“Absolutely, he was a problem employee,” the supervisor said. “He wouldn’t show up. He’d get excited over little things. . . . I’m surprised he’s worked there for as long as he has.”

English, whose recovery from a gunshot wound to the back of the head was progressing remarkably Saturday, had reportedly been lenient with Mack before Mack’s dismissal for attendance problems.

English’s brother, Jerry, said Saturday: “Jim’s co-workers told me today that Jim would frequently (give) . . . this individual a break (when) he wouldn’t show up and so forth, that it wasn’t as though he was being brutal to this individual.”

Mack arrived at Friday’s grievance hearing at the plant’s Human Resources Building wearing jeans, a jacket and a visitor’s pass--and carrying a concealed .38-caliber pistol, according to police. He did not appear particularly agitated or angry, according to a union business agent who was present.

“People are generally nervous and upset at these hearings,” said the business agent, Paul Pechter, who said he and Mack exchanged pleasantries when they recognized each other as former co-workers on a DC-10 assembly project. “I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

Although company officials would not comment on the specifics, they said that, in general, direct supervisors such as English initiate dismissal proceedings. Mack had attended at least one review hearing on his case with Konz before the time of his Jan. 15 dismissal, Pechter said.

Union officials did not mention any previous confrontations between Mack and either English or Konz, but Hickey described Konz as somewhat over-aggressive and sometimes “arrogant” in his handling of employee cases.

“He wanted to make a good showing for the company,” Hickey said. “From the people that I talked to he showed fairness to the degree he could in his position. I would say he was pretentious, sometimes flowery. . . . His arrogance was because of his age.”

A union official who asked not to be identified said he felt Konz’s over-aggressiveness and lack of experience were a problem.

“I feel he was inexperienced in handling working people,” the official said.

Company and union officials and police have not provided further details on what actually occurred in the hearing. Pechter said the participants decided to recess at 2:30 p.m. and continue the proceeding another day.

Konz and English left the room first, while Mack stayed behind for a few minutes talking to the union representatives, Pechter said.

Mack then left union representatives in the room and followed Konz and English down a hallway to a courtyard at the back of the building, where he drew the gun and shot both men, according to police and witness accounts.

Pechter said he didn’t find out the details of the shooting until later, but as soon as he heard the two shots he had a good idea what had happened.

“I put two and two together based on my worst fears,” he said. “They were confirmed.”

The three union representatives saw commotion and heard screams that someone had been shot. A security guard ordered them to stay in the room, Pechter said, and the next few minutes seemed interminable.

“Your whole sense of time is shot,” Pechter said. “Everybody was just in a panic. Everybody was so confused.”

Meanwhile, as hundreds of employees who had just finished the day shift fled, Mack ran back into the building. He took refuge in an office where two other employees were working. Police with drawn guns converged on the scene.

There are conflicting accounts of whether Mack actually took the employees hostage.

One of the two employees told KNSD-TV (Channel 39) Saturday that during the brief standoff that ensued, Mack warned police officers he had two people in the office with him and had them shout out their names to police. Mack then picked up a phone and called his mother, Helen, said the employee, design engineer Victor Felix.

“He told her he shot two people, and wanted to shoot himself,” Felix said. “He was just telling her that he had worked there 25 years and that what they did to him was not right. He looked really calm about the whole thing. It really didn’t faze him that he had already shot two people.”

Felix said he believes Mack’s mother persuaded him not to kill himself and to give himself up. Mack surrendered at 2:55 p.m.

Mack’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday, jail officials said. Police said they have tested him for drugs and alcohol, but would not comment on what those tests found.

Mack, who first began working for General Dynamics in 1968, left the plant handcuffed in a police car, staring back out the window at the cameras, photographers and onlookers.

Times staff writer Leonard Bernstein contributed to this story.