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FBI agents walk at the industrial business park where temp worker Snochia Moseley shot several people in Harford County, Maryland, on Thursday. Photo: AP

‘She wanted to pick a fight’: ‘Nice’ 26-year-old temp worker kills three people, commits suicide at Rite Aid pharmacy distribution centre in US

The suspect, identified as Snochia Moseley, a temporary worker at a Rite Aid distribution centre in Maryland, was ‘usually nice’, a co-worker said

An employee at a warehouse in the US opened fire at work on Thursday, killing three people before taking her own life, authorities said. Several other people were wounded.

The suspect was identified as Snochia Moseley, a 26-year-old temporary worker at the Rite Aid distribution centre in northeastern Maryland, by Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler.

The shooter had been taken into custody in critical condition that morning. Her name was not immediately released. It appeared that only one weapon, a handgun, was used and no shots were fired by responding law enforcement officers, Gahler said.

Krystal Watson, 33, said her husband, Eric, works at the facility and told her told her that the suspect had been arguing with somebody else near a time clock after a “town hall meeting”.

She went off … She didn’t aim. She just shot
Witness Krystal Watson

“And she went off,” she said, adding that her husband told her the shooting started in a break room.

“She didn’t have a particular target. She was just shooting,” Watson said as she drove away from a fire station where relatives tried to reunite with loved ones.

“She didn’t aim. She just shot,” Watson said.

Local hospitals reported receiving five patients from the incident.

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Centre in Baltimore said it was treating four patients with gunshot wounds. Two were in stable condition and two were seriously injured.

A spokesman for a health system that includes Christiana Hospital in Delaware, said one patient was being treated there. Christiana Care Health System spokesman Hiran Ratnayake said the person was in serious condition.

Gahler said the call about shots fired came in at about 9.06am and deputies and other officers were on the scene in just over five minutes.

A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) police officer with a sniffing dog walks out of the industrial complex in Harford County, Maryland on Thursday. Photo: AP

Mike Carre, an employee of a furniture logistics operation next to the distribution centre, said he helped tend to a wounded man.

Carre locked the doors of his workplace after the injured man came hobbling in, bleeding from his leg. He called 911 from a bathroom before helping colleagues wrap the man’s blood-soaked jeans above his injury to cut off blood flow.

Carre said the man told him the shooter “just came in in a bad mood this morning. He said she’s usually nice. But today, I guess it wasn’t her day. She just came in to pick a fight with someone.”

“She pulled out a gun and she just started shooting at her co-workers.”

At a nearby fire station, family members were waiting to be reunited with loved ones. Police blocked off the road outside but were waving in cars driven by people who said they were there to meet up with people who were at the distribution centre.

A law enforcement official said authorities were working their way through the distribution centre to clear the facility.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents on patrol after clearing an area near a warehouse in Maryland on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

“We obviously need to methodically go through the entire complex, ensure there are no other victims inside, ensure that there is no one that was hiding from violence and ensure that there were no other suspects,” said Christie Hopkins, communications director for the sheriff’s office.

“At this time, we are confident that the suspect acted alone. And that person is in custody. We do not believe there is any further threat to the community now, but we still have to completely clear that building.”

The Rite Aid Centre sits among a number of warehouses. The facility has nearly 1,000 employees, company spokesman Pete Strella said, and processes products, including pharmaceuticals, for delivery to more than 2,500 pharmacy stores.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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