US: A gunman described as a disgruntled employee of an auto parts supply warehouse shot six people to death yesterday before he was killed either by police or his own hand, authorities said.
A spokesman for the Chicago police, Mr David Bayless identified the attacker as Mr Salvador Tapia, but gave no other details about him.
Police tried to negotiate by telephone with the gunman but he "wanted no part of it" and police stormed the South Side facility, Windy City Core Supply Inc, where the shootings occurred, said police spokesman Mr Pat Camden.
The gunman, whose name was not released, "is a disgruntled employee who either had been terminated or was going to be terminated," Mr Camden said.
A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner confirmed that seven people had died in the shootings.
The gunman was among two people pronounced dead at John H Stroger Hospital, a spokesman said. No other details were immediately available.
It was not clear whether the gunman was killed by police or turned his weapon on himself.
Witnesses reported hearing at least two flurries of gunshots. Police deployed snipers on nearby rooftops and evacuated the surrounding area.
Workers at the warehouse, Windy City Core Supply, as well as at several nearby small businesses were evacuated as the police entered the neighbourhood, blocking off the area in front of the warehouse for several hours.
"I was on the dock and I heard some kind of machine gun or something," said Mr Frank Cano (31), who works the first shift at Extreme Laboratories, less than two blocks away.
Mr Al Martinez, the owner of a business about a half-block from the shooting, said he was at work when he heard gunfire outside.
"We saw a guy shooting at police officers outside the building and saw people running around like crazy," said Mr Martinez. "We came and saw all the cops running, hiding behind cars."
The shooting erupted in a mostly residential neighbourhood about five miles from downtown, where small factories like Windy City - which fixes and redistributes old auto parts - are situated.
Last week in Ohio, an automotive supply plant worker killed one co-worker and wounded two others before killing himself.
Other workplace shootings in recent years include in November 1999, when a copier repairman in Honolulu shot to death seven people at a Xerox Corporation facility. In July of that year, a stock trader killed nine people at two Atlanta brokerage offices and later committed suicide.