Boss shoots dead three employees in small office after argument before killing himself [PHOTOS]
Agony: A woman sobs after going to AK Home Health Care following a deadly rampage there that left four people dead
The owner of AK Home Health Care could seen on surveillance cameras shouting at his employees in the tiny office Thursday afternoon before producing a handgun and killing everyone in the room, police said. The man then turned the pistol on himself.
A sobbing family member said all of the dead, two men and two women, are family members and are immigrants from Somalia.
A.K. Home Healthcare was a family business and one mourner said all of the dead were related
Crime scene: St. Louis police work the scene
where four people were found dead after a murder-suicide in a business
along Cherokee Street south of downtown in St. Louis on Thursday
The owner of the business is a man named Khandra Muse, of O'Fallon, Missouri - a St Louis suburb, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Police have not identified either the perpetrator or the victims. Authorities say all the dead were in their 40s and 50s.
Police are still investigating what drove the business owner to open fire on his employees. The nature of the argument is unknown at this time and the confrontation lasted on a few moments before the perpetrator pulled out the semi-automatic pistol and started shooting.
'We don't know if this was a thing that carried over into today or was initiated today,' St Louis Police Captain Michael Sack.
While police were still investigating a crime scene, a woman wearing a hijab tried to enter the business. When she was block by police, she collapsed to the sidewalk, sobbing.
Scene: The shooting is believed to have broken out at a healthcare office in this building in south St Louis
Search: Police said they found a gun at the scene where shots erupted at 1.50pm on Thursday
Another family member said the dead were all from Somalia.
When police arrived on the scene, the building was evacuated and several people were interviewed. At least one man and two women were taken into custody. They were later released.
The building, which is a former movie theater, houses five to 10 small companies including an attorney, an African bazaar and a home health company, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Abdi Salam Elmi, an
immigrant from Somalia who drives a cab in St. Louis, said he was close
to all four of the dead in Thursday's shooting. He described them as
The neighborhood is home to many Somali immigrants and family members say all of the dead are Somali
The shooting, which left everyone in the room dead, even affected hardened St Louis police officers
'They always
smile for me. This is my worst day in my life. It's a very, very sad day
for us and a very sad day for the city of St. Louis,' he said.
St.
Louis has long struggled with urban violence, but the last week has
seen a troublesome uptick in bloodshed. Police scrambled late Monday and
early Tuesday to respond to five different shootings on the city's
north side that left 15 people wounded.
Elmi
said as a cab driver he sees too much violence in the city and he's
concerned about the recent shootings. 'I feel the same as I did when I
left Somalia,' he said, referring to the war-torn African country.
