A day after a gunman killed at least eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, it has now come to light that the attacker was a former employee of the company. The mass shooting took place at the FedEx Ground Plainfield Operations Center late Thursday.
As per reports, the attacker has been identified as a 19-year-old boy named Brandon Scott Hole. After Hole’s killing spree, four victims were found dead inside the FedEx facility while four others were discovered dead outside the building. The attacker then shot himself, just minutes before the police arrived at the crime scene. He was employed by the American delivery services company in 2020.
Attacker had a criminal history, was arrested in 2013 and 2020
Brandon Scott Hole was interrogated by the police last year after his mother complained that he might try to commit ‘suicide by cop’ by provoking law enforcement authorities. The gunman was arrested on March 3, 2020, when police recovered a shotgun from him. He was then sent to a behavioural health unit. According to Special Agent (FBI) Paul Keenan, federal agents questioned him after discovering ‘some items’ in his bedroom during a search operation.
Reportedly, law enforcement authorities found no evidence against him and he was released. However, they did not return his shotgun. The federal agents also found that the 19-year-old attacker did not talk about ‘racially motivated ideology.’ It must be mentioned that he was also arrested in 2013 but the reason remains unknown.
Law enforcement authorities probing the motive behind the mass shooting
When asked about the motive behind the crime, Deputy Chief Craig McCartt sighed, “I wish we can answer that.” He further added, “This suspect came to the facility and when he came there, he got out of his car and pretty quickly started some random shooting outside the facility…No confrontation or argument, he just appeared to randomly start shooting. When officers arrived they found a very chaotic and active crime scene.” Police Chief Randal Taylor said, “We’ll never really know all the ins and outs of why this occurred, but we’ll try our best.”
4 Sikhs among 8 dead in the deadly attack
On Friday morning, federal agents reached Hole’s residence and seized a large box and his computer equipment. Indianapolis Police Chief Randal Taylor informed that a large number of employees at FedEx are members of the Sikh community. Given that 4 Sikh employees were killed, the law enforcement authorities are trying to determine whether the mass shooting was racially motivated. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has ordered the US flag to be flown at half-mast and called the incident a ‘national embarrassment.’
The Indianapolis mass shooting
Police officers received information about an active shooter at the FedEx centre near the airport at around 11 pm night. Journalist Matthew keys reported that about 60 people were injured, with more than 20 victims sustaining gunshot wounds. Citing sources in law enforcement, he informed that about 10 people suffered critical injuries while 20 victims sustained serious injuries. Around 30 people were walking wounded, in the aftermath of the mass shooting.
One Timothy Boillat and his friend Jeremiah Miller, who worked at the FedEx facility were eyewitnesses to the incident. “By the time we sat down at the smoke lounge and started eating, we heard two gunshots. We thought it was a car. We ignored. We then heard three shots and began thinking that it was an engine problem. Then, we heard around 6-10 shots,” Jeremiah Miller recounted.
He added, “This made me stand up and look out through the window. I saw a man with a sub-machine gun/automatic rifle of some sort and he started firing in the open. I immediately ducked down and got scared. My friend’s mother came in and told us to get inside the car. We are currently telling our co-workers to not go to work and told them about the incident that just happened.”
