This shooting occurred on April 20/07 in Building 44, the Communication and Tracking Development at the LBJ Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The gunman was an employee of Jacobs Engineering named William Phillips. Phillips, 60, was under review for poor job performance and he feared being fired. Here is the gunman:
Phillips had went to lunch on April 20/07 with his supervisor David Beverly and another man. I guess things didn't go well. At 1:00pm, Phillips entered a conference room on the second floor with a .38 revolver and ordered everyone out except Beverly. Phillips accused Beverly of trying to get him fired and at 1:40pm, two gunshots are heard. Beverly was shot in the chest and right leg but was still alive. Moments later Phillips shoots Beverly twice more to finish him off. Phillips then takes a hostage named Fran Crenshaw and bounds her to a chair with duct tape. Crenshaw attempts to calm Phillips down and tells her he killed Phillips because he was constantly calling him "stupid". Phillips also gave Crenshaw information on who to contact after he was dead. A standoff with police ensued for 3 hours with no contact being made. At 4:30pm Phillips kills himself with a shot to the head ( right in front of the bounded Crenshaw). Police credit Crenshaw for remaining calm throughout the ordeal. She was not hurt and Phillips referred to her as a "nice person"
Phillips was described as a loner who had nothing going from him except his job. He was unmarried, lived alone, and was practically bankrupt. He had worked for NASA for 12 years and until recently was considered an excellent employee. Jacobs Engineering said after he was not going to be fired and Beverly had sent him an email on March 18/07 regarding his tardiness. Phillips purchased the gun on the same day.
Here is the victim:
Beverly,60, was described as an easy going, dedicated employee. Co-workers saw no evidence that he was giving Phillips a difficult time and could not understand Phillips' actions.
Here is a NASA website re: Beverly:
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2007/04/nasa_feedback_j.html
Over 700 showed up at Beverly's memorial service.
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=137742
no info on Phillips' body/funeral.
the shooting occurred 4 days after Virginia Tech.
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Originally Posted by sheri
