Two Killed in Philadelphia Work Rampage

A city employee whose job was putting up highway signs burst into a meeting at work Friday and shot two superiors to death before being overpowered and shot in the leg during a struggle with two co-workers.

David Cunningham, a 48-year-old union shop steward, was released from the hospital into police custody Friday night. He had not yet been charged.

About a dozen supervisors were meeting in the conference room in the city Streets Department’s Traffic Signal & Sign Shop in north Philadelphia at 9:29 a.m. at the time of the attack, Police Commissioner John Timoney said. Police had no motive.

Cunningham, a semiskilled laborer, fatally shot Gerald Ebbecke, 53, chief traffic engineer, Timoney said. Simultaneously, Cunningham reached into his back pocket, produced another automatic weapon and fired more rounds, killing signal operator Irvin Oliver, 44.

Two other men at the conference table, Herbert Oliver, a crew chief, and storeroom supervisor Lester Johnson, fought Cunningham for the gun, Timoney said. More shots were fired during the struggle, one hitting Cunningham in the leg.

“Mr. Johnson continued to struggle and was able to get Cunningham under control, and--basically in a fierce struggle for his life--rendered Cunningham unconscious,” Timoney said.

Herbert Oliver, wounded in the right leg, was hospitalized in good condition. He is not related to Irvin Oliver.

Tito Torres, a sign fabricator, described Cunningham as a good worker who had never caused trouble. But he and other employees said they had heard that Cunningham was under stress because of illness in the family.

Two other men were hurt, though none of their injuries were considered life-threatening.