Six people were shot in a mass shooting in a New Albany industrial park late Tuesday night.
One person died at the scene. Another succumbed to their injuries while in the hospital on Wednesday night. Police have not disclosed the status of the other four individuals, transported to area hospitals late Tuesday night.
Law enforcement agencies responded to reports of a “mass casualty incident” at KDC/One on Smith’s Mill Road North along the western edge of Licking County at 10:22 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4. New Albany Police Chief Greg Jones said law enforcement officers were on the scene in four minutes, he told reporters during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.
The suspect in the shooting, Bruce Reginald Foster III, was taken into custody in north Columbus on Wednesday morning – nearly 12 hours after the shooting took place.
Foster was in the middle of his shift at the warehouse when he opened fire, killing one of his coworkers and injuring five others, Jones said. While his motive remains unclear, Jones told reporters that police “are continuing to try to develop what the motive was.”
Jones said the five victims remain in the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, but he could not disclose additional information about their condition, nor could he identify them Wednesday afternoon. All six, he said, worked alongside Foster at KDC/One.
Foster was arrested in an apartment home in north Columbus on Wednesday morning, U.S. Marshals Service Chief Deputy Dan Deville said during the news briefing.
Deville said Foster refused to come out of the home, which was surrounded by more than a dozen officers and a helicopter flying overhead, and refused to comply with officer commands during the arrest.
Upon his arrest, he was transported to the New Albany Police Department, and has since been transferred to the Licking County Sheriff’s Department, where he remains incarcerated. He has been charged with aggravated murder in the Licking County Court of Common Pleas, and will have an arraignment hearing Thursday, Feb. 6.
Foster legally purchased the firearm — a glock model 26 compact 9 mm pistol — in September, according to U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Daryl McCormick.
Emergency responders and Crime Scene units from Licking and Franklin counties, as well as from the New Albany Police Department, were still on the scene at KDC/One — which produces beauty and personal care products as well as home goods — around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, blocking entrances into the warehouse.
“This has been a very tragic situation,” Jones said during a press conference. “Our thoughts go out to the victims, their families and everybody who works at this facility.”
“This is something that we hoped would never happen in our community,” he added.
Police said there were about 150 people working inside the facility – which covers nearly 20 acres of land in the “innovation campus” area, home to several other large warehouses, shipping facilities and manufacturing plants.
This shooting is the first homicide in New Albany’s history, Jones said during the news briefing.
Julia Lerner, Anastasia Wood and Andrew Theophilus contributed to this story.
This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information as it becomes available.