Brewery shooter did experience racial harassment at work, Molson Coors says
https://www.wisn.com/article/miller-brewery-shooter-experienced-racial-harassment-at-work-molson-coors/31216486?
MILWAUKEE —
A corporate communications official for Molson Coors confirmed Tuesday night the man accused of shooting and killing five co-workers before killing himself did experience racial harassment while working at Molson Coors.
"There was a noose found on an employee's locker five years ago, 2015. The employee was actually not at work that day, it was an off day. Our team found it and brought it to his attention," said Adam Collins, chief communications and corporate affairs officer for Molson Coors. "We investigated it fully at the time. Looked at things like cameras, security cameras, to see if we could determine how it got there, who put it there, which was inconclusive to the camera angles."
Collins said after that incident, they brought in brewery leadership and employees to make sure racial discrimination of any type was not tolerated.
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"Even though it happened five years ago, that type of activity and those types of actions are absolutely unacceptable then and they are unacceptable today," Collins said.
WISN 12 News asked multiple questions about the shooting, including what Anthony Ferrill's motive was, if the five victims were targeted, if there was an ongoing feud between Ferrill and another employee what type of guns were used, and if racial harassment played a part in the shooting.
Collins would not comment on anything surrounding the police investigation.
"Still no details [that we can give you.] Still no details. Police have asked us not to engage in speculations," Collins said.
WISN 12 News reporter Caroline Reinwald asked Collins if Molson Coors was a racist environment for minorities to work in. He said that no type of discrimination is tolerated and the company's goal is to always be an inclusive.
"I know what our company stands for. I know what our company believes in. We believe in the power of diversity. We believe in the power of inclusion. We believe in being a welcoming organization," Collins said. "We have more work to do. There's no two ways about that. Our commitment to ourselves, to our employees and to everyone in our community is to continue that work. Through listening to our employees, to working with our employees, to partnering with organizations, to continue to build our organization to be what we want and know we can be."
A motive for the shooting has not been determined and Molson Coors will not comment on the shooting specifics until police finish their investigation.
"Our commitment is to working with law enforcement, to working with detectives, to working with the police department, who have been fantastic partners, to uncover those, to answer those to get to the bottom of what happened, why it happened and how it happened, so we can all get the answers that we all want," Collins said.
"What we did yesterday, Monday, today and the days ahead is really bring people together. To help ensure that they know they've got grief counseling available to them, to pair them with trauma experts. Other resources for employees and their families," Collins said. "Ultimately. that's the most important thing right now, is helping everyone in our company grapple with and cope with what happened and get through it."
Collins said everyone is grieving at Molson Coors and that the outpouring of love and support from the community has been overwhelming.
"The billboards we see, people stopping us on the street giving us hugs. Everyone inside this company is grieving in their own ways and in their own times. But that love and that support is felt is so deeply appreciated by all of us here at Molson Coors," Collins said.
blob:https://www.wisn.com/89b56a21-f8f4-40e9-b366-5abfa2b86248
Very interesting article and claim way after the fact.