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Employment Network News Texas Trucker Kills 6 Co-workers GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas Aug. 9, 1982 - A truck driver killed six people and injured four yesterday as he shot up his bosses' offices, and crashed a tractor-trailer rig through a police barricade before he was gunned down, authorities said. Police said the violence began about 8 a.m. when John F. Parish, 46, of Dallas, armed with two pistols and a rifle, walked into the Western Transfer Co. building in the central business district of this Dallas suburb. Witnesses said Parish spoke to no one as he calmly shot and killed three of his supervisors, Eddie Eugene Ulrich, 40, Martin Douglas Moran, 30, and Moody Charles Smith, 58, of Lufkin. He then left his company vehicle, stole a truck and drove a half block to another Western Transfer office, where he fatally wounded executive secretary Wyvonne Kohler, 45, of Arlington. He wounded 19-year-old receptionist Ruth James of Alvarado and Burnett Hart, 42, an operations manager from Arlington. A few minutes later, Parish entered the warehouse of Jewel-T, a discount grocery store, where he shot and killed Dave Bahl and Rick Svoboda. Robert Sarabia, 30, was wounded. Police Chief David Kunkle said Parish worked for Western Transfer, which contracted with Jewel-T. He said Jewel-T officials had complained to Western Transfer about the trucker, claiming he was a troublemaker. Kunkle also said Parish had had a pay dispute with Western Transfer for the last two weeks. "This was not a random shooting," the police chief said. "The man obviously had an agenda. He had a mission to accomplish."Kunkle said Parish continued to fire at officers as he climbed out of the cab and into the building. Several officers fired at him and he suffered seven or eight gunshot wounds. He died in a pool of blood in Fischer's office. |
