Ohio State Employee Kills Co-Worker, Then Self, Police SayBy IAN URBINA
March 9, 2010
An Ohio State University employee killed a co-worker and wounded another before killing himself early Tuesday morning at a university maintenance building, officials said.
The campus police said that they believed the gunman, who arrived carrying two handguns, may have been disgruntled about a poor work evaluation. No students were involved in the shooting, and classes were held as scheduled on Tuesday. The shooting occurred around 3:30 a.m.
The gunman was identified as Nathaniel Brown, 51, a custodial worker. The police said he sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Ohio State University Medical Center.
Larry Wallington, 48, a building services manager, was pronounced dead at the scene. Henry Butler, 60, an operations shift leader, was shot and injured, the police said, and was in stable condition at the medical center.
The shooting comes as state legislatures are debating whether to ban guns on college campuses. Those who support the right to carry concealed weapons on campuses argue that having a gun protects the individual and the community and lessens the likelihood of a rampage like the one that at Virginia Tech in 2007 in which 32 students and faculty members were killed.
Opponents say that with binge drinking, drug use and the pressures that students face, campuses are the wrong place for guns.
Twenty six states, including Ohio, forbid guns on college campuses, while 23 are silent on the issue, deferring to colleges to shape policy, according to a gun control group called Gun Free Kids. Utah is the only state that endorses on-campus possession, having ruled in 2004 that those 21 and older may carry guns with a concealed-carry firearms license. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/us/10ohio.html