Accountant Kills 4 at His Connecticut Lottery Office

A 35-year-old accountant opened fire at the headquarters of the Connecticut state lottery Friday, killing three top officials before chasing down and slaying the lottery’s president in a parking lot. He then fatally turned his automatic pistol on himself.

Terrified workers fled into the woods outside the building in Newington, Conn., near the capital, Hartford. Others hid in a paint warehouse and in a ditch during the carnage.

Police said the gunman, Matthew Beck, had returned to his job at the lottery office from stress-related medical leave on Feb. 25. He appeared to be enraged over a grievance involving back pay and a change in his job classification.

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“Because they were the senior managers of the lottery and because his grievances were with the lottery, these were the people he sought out,” said a state official.

“He came in with a gun and lots of ammunition,” said State Police Sgt. Gregory Chelso.

“The security guy told everybody to run into the woods,” said a lottery worker.

Otho R. Brown, the lottery’s president, was directing employees into the woods when police said Beck spotted him

Beck chased Brown, 54, into a gravel parking lot, and when the lottery’s president stumbled and fell, he shot him before shooting himself in the right temple. The gunman died shortly afterward in a hospital. Shocked lottery workers, many of whom were red-eyed from crying, said that Brown was a hero because he managed to save lives.

“Mr. Brown had stopped. He turned around,” said Shanon O’Neil. “We all took off for the woods. We heard gunshots and were halfway through the woods. I guess the guy was after him specifically.”

“He [Brown] told us to go into the woods, and everybody ran into the woods and he stayed out in the open.”

“As a community and as a state, we have experienced one of the worst possible tragedies imaginable,” said Gov. John G. Rowland, a personal friend of Brown and Linda Mlynarczyk, the lottery’s chief financial officer, who also was killed. “The whole state mourns this unexplained act of violence.”

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Mlynarczyk, 38, was a former mayor of New Britain, Conn. Also slain were Frederick Rubelmann III, 40, vice president of operations, and Michael Logan, 33, an information sales manager.

Police said that Beck arrived at work about 8 a.m. after driving about 40 miles from his father’s home in Ledyard. Outwardly, he appeared calm as he took off his coat and headed for his office.

He remained in his office for about a half hour before heading to a suite of executive offices, where he first confronted Logan and killed him.

In the same area, Beck also shot Rubelmann and Mlynarczyk.

As the gunfire sounded, shocked employees called Newington police and bolted from the building, which was not equipped with metal detectors.

“There were shots and everybody started screaming to get out and we left,” said a female employee. “Some of us saw what happened and some of us didn’t.”

About 20 people hid in a paint warehouse. A 45-year-old man received a head injury as he jumped into a moving vehicle to try to escape.

In the grim aftermath, officials learned that Beck was single and had worked at the lottery for 8 1/2 years. About a year ago, he was demoted from being an accountant to a data processor. He had successfully filed a grievance and was awaiting back pay.

Records show that Beck took medical leave for job-related stress in October and, after returning to the lottery in February, met with a union official two days ago to discuss what he viewed as a delay in getting the money he was owed.

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During his medical leave, Beck, who earned $45,214 a year, moved into the home of his father in Ledyard.

When investigators went to that house Friday, they found a blue sticker on the front door.

“Warning: Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again,” the sticker read.

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Special correspondent Lisa Meyer contributed to this story.