Page 18
11,1'IJortlanù (Observer
August II. 2010
Mass Murder Act of Vengeance
Hollander said.
The union said 14 of 69 dock
Thornton, 34, went
workers, or 20 percent,
on his killing spree mo-
were racial minorities
m ents after he was
— four black, nine
forced to resign when
Hispanic, one Asian.
confronted with video
The idea that
T
h
o rn to n 's m otive
evidence that he had
may not have been
been stealing and resell
ing beer.
retaliation for losing
his job has not sat well
The 911 call con
w ith m any o f the
firm ed su g g e stio n s
people who knew the
from his relatives and
girlfriend that he was
victims and have first
angered by what he be- Omar Thornton
hand knowledge of the
lieved was racist treat-
environm ent inside
ment in the workplace.
the enormous distribution center.
Hartford Distributors president
"Everybody just thinks this race
Ross Hollander said there was no card is such a wrong thing," said
record to support claims of "racial Michael Cirigliano, whose slain
insensitivity" made through the brother, Bryan, was Thornton's
company's anti-harassment policy, union representative at the d is c
the union grievance process or state plinary meeting and the president of
and federal agencies,
the local union.
"Nonetheless, these ugly allega-
Michael Cirigliano also spent
tions have been raised and the com- three decades working at the ware-
pany will cooperate with any inves- house before he retired two years
Workplace
was racist, ’ killer told 9-1-1
r
(A P )--F o r two days, employees
at a beer distribution company
puzzled over why an easy-going co-
worker with no history of violence
would go on a rampage, fatally shoot-
ing eight men and wounding two
others before killing himself.
Then, the shooter himself told
them why.
In a chilling, 4-minute 911 call,
Omar Thornton told a police dis
patcher how he sought to avenge
racial discrimination through the
shootings Aug. 3 at Hartford Dis-
tributors Inc. in Manchester, Mass,
You probably want to know the
reason why I shot this place up,"
Thornton said in a recording re-
leased Thursday. "This place is a
racist place. They're treating me bad
over here. And treat all other black
employees bad over here, too. So I
took it to my own hands and handled
the problem. I wish I could have got
more of the people."
... f „
Bridge Project Scaled Back
continued
fro m page 3
keep the Hooter's at Jantzen Beach,
he was fine with it.
Other Vancouver residents stated
that they didn't want a light rail
extension into the city, citing con
cerns over crime and questioned if
it was necessary.
In 2011, Vancouver voters will
decide on measure to fund light rail
to Clark County with a sales tax. A
similar measure failed in 1995. If the
same happens next year, it could
pose a serious funding problem for
theCRC.
Last month, the CRC Indepen
dent Review Panel, eight experts
appointed by the governors of
Washington and Oregon to review
the project, released a report that
argued that there are issues with the
project that need to be addressed.
The 317-page report stated that
the bridge was largely experim en
tal, and would need to be continu
ously tested if it came to fruition,
adding significantly to the cost. It
also stated that tolling was neces
sary.
The I PR report specifically men
tions that more work needs to be
done on environmental justice is
sues concerning the bridge.
Environmental justice has a spe
cific legal context, according to the
report, and concerns low-income or
minority populations that will be
disproportionately or adversely
impacted by the project. So far analy
sis on this issue has blended with
“neighborhood” issues, the report
states, making it much harder to
gauge how these populations will
be affected.
Although the CRC Project Spon
sors Council voted unanimously to
scale the bridge back to 10, lanes,
CRC opponents are still calling for a
complete redo of the project.
Garren said that despite the pleas
ing outcome with the Hayden Is
land interchange he is still con
cerned. He points out that much of
the work on the bridge will be done
next to a residential area on the
island that houses many older, im
mobile residents who could be nega
tively impacted by the noise and
pollution from the work on the
bridge. He also worries that the ex
isting Safeway on the island will be
removed to make way for the project,
leaving many residents with no way
to get their medications.
However, he said that CRC staff
w orked
tra n sp a re n tly
and
collaboratively with residents, a
trend he hopes will continue.
ago.
"The Hispanics and the blacks
were telling me they've never seen
anything they're accusing the com
pany of in the bathrooms or any
where else at HDI," he said. "It's
never been separated white, black,
Asian. It's never been like that."
He said the company had in
creased its hiring of minorities in
recent years.
"They've been bringing in more
and more minority people to fill the
positions," Cirigliano said. "You
could almost go as far as that's re
verse discrimination. They were hir
ing the groups to balance the work
place, because that's what we are in
America, there's a balance."
Thornton's ex-girlfriend, Jessica
Anne Brocuglio, said he had a his
tory of racial problems with co-work
ers at other jobs and believed he
was denied pay raises because of
his race.
She said he told her: "I'm sick of
having to quit jobs and get another
job because they can't accept me."
Thornton's girlfriend of the past
eight years, Kristi Hannah, said he
showed her cell phone photos of
racist graffiti in the bathroom at the
beer distribution company and over
heard managers using a racial epi
thet in reference to him. Police said
they recovered the phone and fo
rensics experts would examine it.
The 911 operator attempted to
keep Thornton on the phone and to
talk him into surrendering. Thornton
said he would not give up his loca
tion in the building and knew police
were looking for him.
"When they find me that's when
everything is going to be over," he
said, assuring the operator he was
not going to kill anyone else.
He then said he saw a SWAT
team and hastened to get off the
phone.
"Tell my people I love them and
I gotta go now," he said.
Police found him dead with a
gunshot wound to his head.
Reward Tracks Driver’s Death
Crime Stoppers, in cooperation
with the Portland Police Bureau,
wants the public’s help in solving
a homicide that occurred in east
Portland.
On June 11, at approximately
12:51 a.m., David Cosmo Jenkins,
33, was shot and killed while driv
ing a light blue, 1991 Oldsmobile
westbound on East Burnside at
90th Avenue.
Detectives believe he was com
ing from the area of 162nd and
Burnside just prior to his death.
Crime Stoppers is offering a
cash reward of up to $1,000 for
inform ation, reported to Crime
Stoppers, that leads to an arrest
in this case, or any unsolved
felony, and you remain anony
mous. Call Crime Stoppers at
503-823-H E L P (4357), leave
a
tip
o n lin e
at
crim estoppersoforegon.com , or
text 823HELP plus your tip and
send it to CRIM ES (274697).
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