‘Classic Loner,’ Fired From Work, Returns Armed and Kills 3, Injures 4

A “classic loner” fired from a machine-tool company for fighting with co-workers walked back in Wednesday and started shooting, killing three people, authorities said. Four others were hurt.

James Floyd Davis, 47, then threw two guns outside, emptied his pockets of shells and surrendered. He was charged with three counts of murder.

“A dangerous guy, and we knew it,” said Larry Short, an employee at the Union Butterfield Division plant who escaped injury. “He always talked about his guns. He always talked about his knives.”

Davis, hired in 1991, had been fired on Monday for fighting with other employees, former co-workers said.

Lynn Yarbrough, vice president of a graphics firm that owns the building and shares it with Union Butterfield, said he saw the suspect smoking a cigarette when police arrived. He said that after talking with police for several minutes, the man threw out two guns, an ammunition belt and an ammunition clip.

“Then he dug into his pockets and took out some loose shells,” Yarbrough said. “He did that two or three times.”

“He was very, very much a classic loner. We would see him talking to himself. He was out there, no doubt about it,” Short said.