SEYMOUR, Ind. (AP) — Investigators haven't determined how a gunman in a workplace murder-suicide in southern Indiana was able to get his weapon past security, police said Friday.
Qing Chen, 37, of Seymour, fired the shots that killed his direct supervisor, 49-year-old Ward R. Edwards of Columbus, at Cummins Inc.'s Seymour Engine Plant on Thursday morning, Seymour Police Chief Bill Abbott said.
"We know that he wound up using the gun, but from video security, we don't see it on him when he enters the building," Abbott said.
The Glock was recovered at the scene, a meeting room on the second floor of the plant's technical center.
Cummins has a no workplace policy on guns, the chief said.
Chen was a Chinese national in the U.S. on a five-year work visa and worked for Cummins for two to three years, Abbott said.
An autopsy Friday morning showed both men died instantly. Edwards died of multiple gunshot wounds and Chen died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police wouldn't say how many bullets had been fired or where on their bodies the two men had been shot.
Abbott said Chen had a permit to carry a gun and purchased the Glock in 2012 at a gun shop in the Indianapolis suburb of Plainfield. At the time he purchased the gun, Chen listed his address as Columbus, Abbott said.
Investigators recovered three rifles and one other handgun from Chen's Seymour apartment, Abbott said.
The chief said he likely will not release the motive for the shooting because it is a Cummins personnel issue.
"They had a supervisor/employee relationship, and I'm going to leave it at that," Abbott said.
Police have not talked to any of Chen's friends and have only spoken with co-workers so far, he said.
"To our knowledge, he lived alone," Abbott said.
Abbott said he was not aware of Chen having a criminal record.
The plant employs hundreds of workers who make generators and engines used in trucking, farming and construction equipment. It will remain closed until Monday, a Cummins spokesman has said.
