ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A gunman angry about a child custody dispute with his girlfriend shot her Monday after a confrontation outside the fiber optics and solar manufacturing plant where she works, then forced his way inside and killed two employees before turning the gun on himself.
Four others were wounded in a rampage police said was motivated by Robert Reza’s disgust over a domestic violence dispute involving the girlfriend, who remained in critical condition Monday evening.
Police Chief Ray Schultz said investigators recovered a single handgun but it appeared Reza fired 20 to 25 bullets, reloading once.
It was unknown if the others who were shot at Emcore Corp. had been targeted by Reza, Schultz said.
“He acted alone,” Schultz said. “His primary target was his girlfriend at the facility. He knew her routine and confronted her outside the business.”
It wasn’t known how Reza got past security at Emcore Corp., but police said he was a former employee.
Reza went through the building firing shots at several employees and leaving behind a scene of blood and shell casings. Responding officers had to step past several victims as they raced into the building to stop the gunman.
Of the 5,071 workplace fatalities nationwide in 2008 — the latest statistics available — 517 were homicides, or about 10 percent of all workplace fatalities, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department reported the 2008 numbers represent an 18 percent drop in workplace homicides from 2007 and a 52 percent drop from 1994, when 1,080 workplace homicides occurred.
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