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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SHOOTING
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2004
The Associated Press
Police led unidentified family members away outside the ConAgra plant in Kansas City, Kan., Friday. Shootings at the plant left six dead and two injured.
ConAgra workers return after killings
Employees return to work after colleague shoots eight, kills six, including himself
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Employees of a ConAgra Foods Inc. plant returned to work yesterday morning, four days after one of their colleagues killed five people at the meatpacking facility before turning the gun on himself.
The plant had been closed since Friday, when 21-year-old Elijah Brown described by police as a disgruntled employee — opened fire during the plant's 5 p.m. break.
A steady stream of employees arrived at the plant before the 7 a.m. start of the first shift, all showing ID to security.
Reporters were not allowed into the plant, where a spokeswoman had said the shift would begin with an employee meeting and a short memorial service.
Trucks making deliveries to the plant were turned away until 8 a.m.
For many,yesterday's return to work was the first time they had been at the plant since they waited nervously just off company grounds Friday for word on who had been killed.
The roughly 160 people who were working at the time of the shootings were not allowed to leave for several
Brown, of Kansas City, Kan., was believed to have been involved in some sort of spat with co-workers earlier last week. But authorities have said that was just one of several possible motives for the shootings.
hours Friday night while the crime scene was being investigated.
Three of those killed in his 10-minute rampage were members of an extended Kansas City-area family.
Police identified the dead workers as Lonnie Ellingburg, 46; Travis Nelson, 23; and Leonardo Rodriguez, 49, all of Kansas City, Kan.; Ardell L. Edwards, 55, of Grandview, Mo.; and Jose Ibarra, 45, of Mexico.
Ellingburg was an uncle to Nelson and nephew to Ardell L. Edwards, relatives said.
Two other employees were wounded in the shooting.
ConAgra spokeswoman Julie DeYoung said workers who didn't feel like coming back to work so soon after the shootings weren't being required to do so, and could use sick leave or personal days so they didn't miss any pay.
"We're not going to force anyone to return to work if they feel they're not ready," she said