The gunman in a spate of violence after a routine traffic stop in West Texas had just been fired from his job and called both police and the FBI before the shooting began, authorities said Monday. Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator had been fired Saturday from Journey
1 / 12Shooting TexasPeople attend a memorial service for the victims of a shooting spree the day before, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, in Odessa, Texas. ODESSA, Texas — The gunman in a spate of violence after a routine traffic stop in West Texas had just been fired from his job and called both police and the FBI before the shooting began, authorities said Monday.
"This did not happen because he was fired. He showed up to work enraged," said FBI special agent Christopher Combs of the suspected shooter. He also tweeted that Ator failed a previous gun background check and didn't go through one for the weapon he used in Odessa. He did not elaborate, and a spokesman referred questions to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which didn't immediately respond for comment.
The attack began Saturday afternoon when Texas state troopers tried pulling over a gold car on Interstate 20 for failing to signal a left turn. Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, the driver"pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots" toward the patrol car stopping him, according to Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger. The gunshots struck a trooper, Cesinger said, after which the gunman fled and continued shooting.
Gerke, the Odessa police chief, refused to say the name of the shooter during a televised news conference, saying he wouldn't give him notoriety. But police later posted his name on Facebook. A similar approach has been taken in some other recent mass shootings in an effort to deny shooters notoriety.
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