Many years ago when I was employed as a human resources director, my responsibilities included serving on my employer’s safety committee. Back then, when workplace violence came up on the agenda, our greatest concerns focused on heated arguments between colleagues and the occasional shoving match.
How did we as a nation go from that to the following?
2 dead/1 injured: On Aug. 24, 2015, in Virginia, a disgruntled ex-employee shot and killed two former colleagues: 24-year-old WDBJ7-TV news reporter Alison Parker and 27-year-old videographer Adam Ward. The killer, who previously had been involuntarily terminated from his position at WDBJ7, filmed the attack and later boasted about it on social media. At the time of the brutal murders, Ward was filming Parker on a live television feed as she interviewed a chamber of commerce executive, Vicki Gardener. Gardener probably survived simply because the killer’s gun ran out of bullets.