Indiana

Men killed at Cummins plant in Seymour identified as manager, employee

SEYMOUR, Ind. (AP) — The Latest on an apparent murder-suicide at a southern Indiana factory (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Police have released the names of the two men fatally shot in an apparent murder-suicide at a Cummins Inc. plant in southern Indiana.

Seymour police say the two were 49-year-old Ward R. Edwards of Columbus and 37-year-old Qing Chen of Seymour.

Police say Chen was the gunman and Edwards was his direct supervisor at the Seymour Engine Plant. Both men were found dead in a room of the plant’s technical and office center. They say a 9mm Glock handgun was recovered at the scene about 60 miles south of Indianapolis.

Police say search warrants have been served on both men’s vehicles and on Chen’s apartment in Seymour.

Autopsies are planned Friday.

Seymour police haven’t released any other details, but a State Police spokesman has characterized the incident as a murder-suicide.

1:40 p.m.

A Cummins Inc. spokesman says the two men fatally shot in an apparent murder-suicide at a company engine factory in southern Indiana were a manager and a worker.

Cummins spokesman Jon Mills says the slain manager had supervised the worker. He declined to comment further.

Mills says the men were found dead in a new technical and office center attached to the company’s Seymour Engine Plant.

He says the plant about 60 miles south of Indianapolis will be closed until Monday. He says counselors will be on hand to help workers deal with the tragedy.

Seymour Police Chief Bill Abbott declined to characterize the shootings, citing the ongoing investigation. But Indiana State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles said preliminary information indicated it was an apparent murder-suicide.

11:50 a.m.

Seymour Police Chief Bill Abbott says the two people fatally shot at a Cummins Inc. plant in southern Indiana both were men.

Abbott said Thursday at a news conference the bodies were found on the second floor of a new technical and office center near the company’s Seymour Engine Plant.

He declined to comment on the men’s relationship. State Police say it appeared to be a murder-suicide.

Abbott says two to four shots were reported about 8:45 a.m. at the site about 60 miles south of Indianapolis.

Cummins worker Jan Poole tells WDRB-TV she heard a noise so loud that her desk shook and she thought the ceiling might be falling.

Poole says “it wasn’t until I was halfway out the door that someone said there was a shooting.”

This story has been updated to correct that Cummins worker Jan Poole is a woman, not a man.

11 a.m.

Indiana’s governor is calling the apparent murder-suicide at a Seymour factory a senseless act of violence.

State police say one person was fatally shot Thursday morning at a Cummins Inc. engine factory and that the assailant then died by suicide. Police haven’t yet released their identities or the circumstances of their deaths.

Gov. Mike Pence says in a statement that “our hearts go out to the family of the victim” and commended police for a swift response to the shooting.

The Cummins Seymour Engine Plant is about 60 miles south of Indianapolis and has several hundred employees.

10:25 a.m.

State police say two people are dead in an apparent murder-suicide at a Cummins Inc. engine factory in southern Indiana.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles says preliminary reports are that one person was shot dead Thursday morning at the Cummins plant in Seymour and that the assailant then died by suicide.

Police have yet to release their identities or the circumstances of their deaths. The (Seymour) Tribune reports police were called about 8:40 a.m.

Cummins spokesman Jon Mills says the company’s facilities in Seymour and Columbus are on lockdown while the attack is investigated. The newspaper says workers have been escorted from the building.

The Cummins Seymour Engine Plant, about 60 miles south of Indianapolis, has several hundred employees. The Columbus-based company makes generators and engines used in trucking, farming and construction equipment.

a man.

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