Ford Employee Kills 2 During Union Meeting

A Ford worker opened fire with a handgun as a union meeting was breaking up Saturday, killing two fellow workers and wounding two others.

The gunman, Oliver French, surrendered to authorities and was being questioned, Police Chief Ronald Deziel said.

French left the room during the meeting, returned about 20 minutes later with a .357-caliber Magnum and started shooting, Deziel said. French, 47, refused to give a motive.

“He told another employee: ‘I just shot four people,’ ” Deziel said. He repeated the statement to police when they arrived.

Police planned to seek first-degree murder charges against French, Officer Robert Bochenek said.

French and his four victims were representatives of UAW Local 600, part of a unit representing maintenance and construction workers at the Ford Motor Co. Rouge Plant complex, Deziel said. French has worked at the plant for 28 years.

There were no arguments, threats or other signs of a dispute before the shooting, Deziel said.

Jim McNeil, president of Local 600, said there was no disciplinary action pending against French and nothing to indicate why the shooting happened.

“This event has hit us like a ton of bricks,” McNeil said. “The world’s become a very strange place.”

Robert Kirkland worked with French and said both attended a creative writing class at the plant.

“He was pleasant to talk to,” Kirkland said. “He never had a bad word to say about anybody.”

Killed were Ron McTasney, 44, and Greg Couls, 46, Bochenek said.

Bill Bisbing, 44, was shot in the chest and was in stable condition at Oakwood Downriver Medical Center in Lincoln Park. Dave Weitz, 53, was treated and released for a grazing gunshot wound to the head.