OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Latest on a fatal shooting at Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport (all times local): 5:25 p.m. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office says a Southwest Airlines employee shot and killed outside of an Oklahoma City airport died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Office spokeswoman Amy Elliott said Wednesday that 52-year-old Michael Winchester’s death was ruled a homicide. Oklahoma City police say the suspect in Tuesday’s shooting was 45-year-old Lloyd Dean Buie, a former Southwest Airlines employee who likely shot Winchester in retaliation for circumstances that led to his leaving his job last year.
Elliott says Buie’s death has been ruled a suicide from a single gunshot wound to the head. Southwest Airlines says Buie quit his job last year after he refused to take an alcohol screening. Police say Buie shot and killed Winchester from the fourth floor of a parking garage.
1:20 p.m.
The Kansas City Chiefs are rallying around long snapper James Winchester, whose father Michael was killed by a former Southwest Airlines employee outside of an Oklahoma City airport.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday that Winchester, who like his father played college football at Oklahoma, has returned to the state to be with his family.
Reid says he’s not sure if Winchester will be back for Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay.
Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt says he spoke to Winchester, who told him: “Obviously this is a tough time for my family, but I appreciate the thoughts and prayers.”
Police say a former Southwest Airlines worker shot and killed Michael Winchester on Tuesday in retaliation for something that contributed to the attacker quitting his job with the airline last year. The attacker then killed himself.
12:45 p.m.
Southwest Airlines says a former employee who killed one of its current workers outside of an Oklahoma City airport quit his job last year after he refused to take an alcohol screening.
Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King says Lloyd Dean Buie was hired as a ramp agent in Kansas City in November in 1999. She says he resigned in April 2015 after “he was exhibiting signs and symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol while at work.”
King says the victim in Tuesday’s shooting, Michael Winchester, was a ramp supervisor and had worked for the airline for 29 years. King declined to say if Winchester was involved in the encounter that led to Buie’s resignation or to describe on-the-job interactions between the men.
She says the airline is focused on supporting Winchester’s family and other Southwest employees following the shooting.
10:05 a.m.
Police say a man who fatally shot a Southwest Airlines employee outside of Oklahoma City’s airport likely did so in retaliation for circumstances that led to the attacker leaving his job with the airline last year.
Capt. Paco Balderrama identified the shooter as Lloyd Dean Buie, of Oklahoma City.
He says Buie resigned from Southwest Airlines in April 2015 and that investigators believe he shot and killed 52-year-old Michael Winchester on Tuesday in retaliation for circumstances that led to Buie leaving the job.
Balderrama says he doesn’t know what Buie did for Southwest or why he resigned. He says Winchester was not Buie’s immediate supervisor.
Buie was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after Tuesday afternoon’s shooting.
6:40 a.m.
Flights are operating normally at Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport, where a Southwest Airlines employee was fatally shot Tuesday afternoon.
Airport spokeswoman Karen Carney says air traffic control implemented a ground stop after the shooting of 52-year-old Michael Winchester. The ground stop was lifted at about 6 p.m. Tuesday and flight operations resumed, though 25 flights were canceled because of the incident.
Fifteen of the canceled flights were operated by Southwest Airlines. The company’s CEO, Gary Kelly, said on Twitter that the airline “will do everything we can to support Mike’s family.”
Oklahoma City police have not released the name of the suspected shooter, who was found dead inside a pickup truck from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
12:01 a.m.
Oklahoma City police investigators are trying to figure out why a man waited to gun down an airline employee outside Will Rogers World Airport in an ambush that prompted authorities to shut down the state’s busiest airport for hours.
Police Capt. Paco Balderrama says the suspected shooter was found dead inside a pickup truck on Tuesday from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. They believe he watched airport employees come and go before shooting and killing 52-year-old Michael Winchester, a Southwest Airlines employee.
Balderrama said late Tuesday that investigators hadn’t positively identified the shooter, but that the man apparently knew Winchester’s schedule and routine and that the two men likely knew one another.
The 1 p.m. shooting set off a scramble at the airport, with police immediately closing the sprawling complex.