2001 Navistar shooting
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c. 9:50 a.m. – c. 10:02 a.m. (ET)
| 2001 Navistar shooting | |
|---|---|
 Baker in an undated mugshot | |
| Location | 41°54′41″N 87°52′47″W / 41.9113°N 87.8797°W Melrose Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Date | February 5, 2001 c. 9:50 a.m. – c. 10:02 a.m. (ET) |
| Target | Co-workers |
Attack type | Mass shooting, murder-suicide, mass murder, workplace shooting |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 5 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 4 |
| Perpetrator | William Daniel Baker |
On February 5, 2001, a mass shooting occurred at a Navistar engine plant in Melrose Park, Illinois, when former employee William Daniel Baker entered the facility and fatally shot four employees and wounded four others with an SKS rifle before committing suicide. At the time, Baker was involved in a criminal case involving a conspiracy to steal machinery from Navistar. He had been convicted of crimes related to the plot months before the shooting and was due to turn himself into custody on February 6.[1]
At approximately 9:45 a.m. on February 5, 2001, Baker drove his car to the sliding iron gate northwest of the facility on Armitage Avenue. Armed with four weapons, including an SKS rifle, a shotgun, and a hunting rifle all stuffed together in a golf bag,[2] he attempted to persuade a female security guard to let him enter and claimed the bag contained belongings that he was giving to a friend.[3] Once the guard asked if she could inspect the bag, Baker brandished a .38 special revolver and demanded entrance to the facility. She obliged and Baker entered the building, which at the time housed over 800 employees.[3]
Once he infiltrated a diesel engine testing room, Baker brandished his rifle and began shooting. There, seven employees were shot, including three who were killed; supervisor Daniel Dorsch, 52, and technicians Robert Wehrheim, 47, and Michael Brus, 48.[3] Several employees who witnessed the attack began running and alerting the other workers. Meanwhile, Baker continued to wander the facility looking for victims room by room. Approximately 8 to 12 minutes later, Baker entered an office room where he fatally shot a fourth employee, test engineer William Garcia, 43. After discharging 25 to 30 bullets from both the SKS and the revolver, he turned the revolver on himself and committed suicide.[4][5]
After officers made their way into the facility, the four other workers who were shot were rushed to get treatment. Two of them, 45-year-old Carl Swanson and 22-year-old Matt Kusch, were treated at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital and survived.[6] The other two, 24-year-old Mujtaba Aidroos and 26-year-old Bryan Snyder, were treated at Loyola University Medical Center and also survived.[6]
Victims
Killed
- Daniel Thomas Dorsch, 52, of Elmwood Park[3]
- Robert Edward Wehrheim, 47, of Hanover Park[3]
- Michael Victor Brus, 48, of Hinckley[3]
- William Allen Garcia, 43, of Carpentersville[3]