An Ohio State University janitor allegedly gunned down two people, killing one, before taking his own life in an on-campus maintenance facility in the early morning hours of March 9.
Police said Nathanial Brown, 51, was a probation employee who had received a bad performance evaluation and was expecting to be dismissed, according to the Associated Press.
Police say Brown, armed with two handguns and more than 50 rounds of ammunition, walked in to a campus maintenance shop and fired nine shots.
An Ohio State building services manager, Larry Wallington, 48, died at the scene, and Henry Butler, 60, was wounded. Butler remains in stable condition at Ohio State University Medical Center.
Brown was an ex-convict who spent five years in prison for two separate offenses, the AP reported. Brown was convicted in 1979 for receiving stolen goods and was released in 1980. In 1981, Brown returned to prison after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend’s child. He was not charged in that case, but it was determined that his actions violated conditions of his parole on the previous conviction.
Ohio State had hired OPENonline, an independent contractor, to conduct a background investigation on Brown which turned up no criminal records. Brown denied that he’d ever been convicted of a felony and, according to the AP, his criminal record was expelled in 1994 under Ohio law.
Butler’s son, Bryant Butler, told WSYX-TV in Columbus, Ohio that his father could be released from the hospital next week, but said he is at a loss as to why Brown reacted so violently.
“If you lose your job, you lose your job,” he said. “Don’t leave like that.”