MILWAUKEE -- An employee opened fire Wednesday in Milwaukee at one of the nation's largest breweries, killing five co-workers before taking his own life, police said.
The assailant who attacked the Molson Coors complex was identified as a 51-year-old Milwaukee man who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
"There were five individuals who went to work today, just like everybody goes to work, and they thought they were going to go to work, finish their day and return to their families. They didn't -- and tragically they never will," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said.
Authorities offered no immediate motive for the attack and did not release details about the shooter or how the shooting unfolded.
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None of the victims was identified. Police said they were still contacting relatives as of early evening. No one was wounded beyond those who were killed, authorities said.
Officers were working to clear the more than 20 buildings in the complex where more than 1,000 people work. Police Chief Alfonso Morales said authorities believe the shooter acted alone.
President Donald Trump addressed the shooting before speaking at the White House with reporters about steps his administration is taking to combat the coronavirus.
"Our hearts break for them and their loved ones," the president said. "We send our condolences. We'll be with them, and it's a terrible thing, a terrible thing."
The attack occurred at a sprawling complex that includes a mix of corporate offices and brewing facilities. The complex is widely known in the Milwaukee area as "Miller Valley," a reference to the Miller Brewing Co. that is now part of Molson Coors. It features a 160-year-old brewery, with a packaging center and a distribution center the size of five football fields.
Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley called the shooter "an active brewery employee."
"Unfortunately, I am devastated to share that we lost five other members of our family in this tragic incident," he said in an email sent to employees. "There are no words to express the deep sadness many of us are feeling right now."
He said the office would be closed the rest of the week and the brewery shuttered "for the time being" to give people time to cope.
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"It is a horrible, horrible day for the employees here," the mayor said.
James Boyles told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that his wife, Lasonya Ragdales, works at Molson Coors in the claims department. She was texting from inside the facility and told her husband that there was an active shooter and she was locked in a room with a bunch of co-workers, the Journal Sentinel reported.
In October, Molson Coors announced that it was closing its Denver office and shifting some jobs to Milwaukee, as part of a corporate restructuring plan that was expected to result in the loss of 400 to 500 jobs across the company.
Before Wednesday's shooting, there had been three mass killings nationwide in 2020, with 12 total victims. All have been shootings. In 2019, there were 44 mass killings, with 224 total victims. The Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University Mass Killings database tracks all U.S. homicides since 2006 involving four or more people killed over 24 hours regardless of weapon, location, victim-offender relationship or motive.
The last mass shooting in the Milwaukee area was in August 2012 when white supremacist Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people and wounded four others at a Sikh temple in suburban Oak Creek. Page killed himself after being wounded in a shootout with police.
The worst mass shooting in the area in the past 20 years was in 2005, when seven people were killed and four wounded at a church service in Brookfield, a Milwaukee suburb. The shooter killed himself.
Information for this article was contributed by Carrie Antlfinger, Gretchen Ehlke, Dave Kolpack, Meghan Hoyer, Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond of The Associated Press; and by Michael Levenson and Julie Bosman of The New York Times.
A Section on 02/27/2020