AHP employee shoots two co-workers, kills self
By HME News Staff
Updated Sun May 21, 2006
HARRISONBURG, Va. - An American HomePatient employee, apparently upset at the thought that he might be fired, went to work last Tuesday heavily armed and killed two co-workers before ending his own life.
The gunman, identified as Brewer Hoover Jr., 65, was a longtime employee of American HomePatient, according to the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record. The two victims were identified as Gary Gibson and Bonnie Gump, both 54.
A police S.W.A.T. team responded to the shootings at the Town Center shopping center location at about 8 a.m. A hostage negotiation team contacted Hoover, who had barricaded himself in the building. When he stopped communicating after a two-hour standoff, police began to move in. At that point, Hoover shot himself in the head, according to police Lt. Kurt Boshart in USA Today. Hoover died at the hospital.
"He told negotiators he was upset and thought he was going to be fired," Boshart told the media. "Once SWAT officers made entry in the building, Hoover turned a gun on himself and fired, ending his life."
Hoover was armed with a .38-caliber revolver and a .40-caliber semi-automatic weapon, Boshart said.
In a statement released by American HomePatient Tuesday, CEO Joseph Furlong expressed sympathy for the victims and their families.
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