The AP News reports that the Odessa killer, Seth Ator was fired Saturday morning from Journey Oilfield Services hours before he was stopped by a trooper for not using his signal during a lane change.
After he was fired, he made “rambling” phone calls to both the 911 and the FBI tip line.
FBI special agent Christopher Combs says Ator had gone to work that day “in trouble.”
“This did not happen because he was fired. He showed up to work enraged,” said FBI special agent Combs of the suspected shooter.
The company also called 911. After the call, the police showed up at his place of employment but he was already gone.
Fifteen minutes after the phone call he was stopped by the Texas state trooper on an interstate.
After shooting the Texas Department of Public Safety officer who had pulled him over, Ator then began a high-speed chase, firing at motorists at random. Ator was killed outside an Odessa movie theater after the 10-mile chase.
Ator “was on a long spiral down” before he was fired from his job, an FBI agent said, according to the AP.
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Combs said active shooter incident seems to happen every other week. He blames the violence they see on TV that distorts their minds.
FBI special agent Christopher Combs said Ator lived in “a strange residence” in conditions which “reflect what his mental state was going into this.”
It was a shack with no water or electricity as you can see.
Governor Abbott tweeted that Ator failed a previous gun background check and didn’t go through one for the weapon he used in Odessa. He did not elaborate, and a spokesman referred questions to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which didn’t immediately respond for comment.
Authorities said those killed were between 15 and 57 years old but did not immediately provide a list of names. Family and employers, however, said that among the dead were Edwin Peregrino, 25, who ran out of his parents’ home to see what the commotion was; mail carrier Mary Granados, 29, slain in her U.S. Postal Service truck; and 15-year-old high school student Leilah Hernandez, who was walking out of an auto dealership.
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