2 Die, Six Hurt as Worker Opens Fire at Indiana Factory

An employee who had gotten into an angry dispute Thursday at a milling factory here returned with a gun, shot a co-worker to death and wounded six others before turning the weapon on himself, authorities said.

A dozen nearby plants were evacuated during the gunfire, and students at a grade school and a small college were told to stay inside. Emergency workers were asked to prepare for more than 30 casualties.

But when SWAT teams entered the Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork factory on the edge of town, they discovered the shooter with a self-inflicted wound, officials said. “He was dead when they found him,” said Capt. Julie Dijkstra of the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.

The mayor identified the gunman as Robert Wissman, 36, of Goshen, who lived about two miles from the plant.

His victims were not immediately identified. Five of the wounded were men, the sixth a woman. One was listed in serious condition at an area hospital late Thursday. State Police Sgt. Brant Klemm told Associated Press that four were not grievously hurt and described them as “walking wounded.”

The shooting prompted several emergency measures in this quiet, northern Indiana community of 29,000. Some students at the nearby elementary school already had gone home by bus, but others were held indoors until the gunman was found.

Similarly, Goshen College, run by Mennonites, told students and faculty not to leave their buildings. Goshen General Hospital was asked to prepare for as many as 35 casualties, but ultimately the total was far fewer.

Alerted by a 911 call from a nearby business, police surrounded the Nu-Wood factory, which makes simulated wood from plastic for decorative trim. Officers cordoned off the area, and a dozen ambulances lined up nearby.

Three SWAT teams entered the plant and found the shooter at the rear of the building with a shotgun under his body.

It was unclear how many guns he carried. Some witnesses reported that he was firing an automatic weapon, while a paramedic at the scene said the suspect had fired a 12-gauge shotgun.

By late afternoon, rescue crews began removing the wounded, some on stretchers. Because the plant is small, most of the injured knew one another. Indeed, the town itself is so small, said Herb Stein, a Nu-Wood sales representative, “everybody knows each other.”

The rampage apparently was triggered by an argument earlier in the day between the gunman and a co-worker, said Michele Oswald, whose husband, Greg, is the general manager at Nu-Wood.

During the argument, the gunman, who worked in the manufacturing area of the single-story building, threatened to get a gun and kill the other man, who worked on “the line,” processing and cutting moldings, Oswald said.

Supervisors told the shooter to go home and cool off, and he agreed, according to Oswald. Employees then called police, Oswald said, but were told there was nothing they could do at the time, but to call 911 if the man returned.

“All I know is, he came back and started shooting,” Oswald said.

With employees at Nu-Wood scrambling for cover and fleeing out a rear door, the first call to 911 came from another factory in the small industrial complex.

As many as 35 workers were in the Nu-Wood plant at the time. One, a secretary, found a place to hide, then phoned a 911 dispatcher and was patched through to a SWAT commander.

The secretary described the inside layout of the building and told the SWAT commander where his officers would encounter employees, said Angie Osterday, a dispatcher.

“This secretary,” Osterday said, “provided routes of travel for the entry teams.”

As the SWAT teams scrambled to find the shooter, Chris Barouska, a parts manager at the neighboring Ingersoll-Rand factory, told reporters: “The place is smothered in cops.”

Willie Green, 19, who had ridden to the scene on a bicycle and was calling friends on his cell phone, said he had thought last year about seeking a job at Nu-Wood.

“Man,” he said, “looks like I was lucky.”

Other mass shootings across the country have claimed even more victims in recent years.

Seven people were killed at a Wakefield, Mass., Internet consulting company on Dec. 26, 2000, and seven more were fatally shot at Xerox Corp. in Honolulu on Nov. 2, 1999. A former day trader killed nine and wounded 13 on July 29, 1999, at brokerage offices in Atlanta.

On April 20, 1999, two students killed a dozen fellow students and a teacher and wounded 23 others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

Nu-Wood makes a polyurethane-based product that resembles white pine. Home builders and remodelers use it for decorative molding, medallions, brackets and louvers.

According to Dun & Bradstreet, Nu-Wood reported $3.1 million in sales last year.

It changed its name from GR Plastics Inc. earlier this year and leases 40,000 square feet at the industrial park.

About 100 miles east of Chicago, Goshen is one of several semi-industrial towns, including South Bend and Elkhart, in an area known as Michiana because of its proximity to the southern Michigan border.

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Times researcher John Beckham in Chicago contributed to this story.