Shooting Victims Made Heroic Efforts

As Omar Thornton carried out his shooting rampage at Hartford Distributors on Tuesday morning, some of the employees took dramatic steps to try and stop him.

Jerry Rosenstein, 77 of West Hartford, went after Thornton in a golf cart and tried to run him down.

Others warned coworkers to run, saving some lives.

Between 7:30 a.m. and 8:15 a.m., Thornton shot and killed eight people and injured two more before apparently taking his own life.

Rosenstein was shot several times while pursuing Thornton.  He had been listed in critical condition, but he has improved, and was listed in fair condition at Hartford Hospital Thursday, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Thornton was at Hartford Distributors in Manchester on Tuesday morning for a meeting to face accusations that he was stealing beer from his employer. After being confronted with video showing the thefts, he signed a resignation letter without putting up a fight, company officials said.

As he was being escorted out, Thornton asked for a glass of water and went into the kitchen. There, police said, he had a lunchbox containing at two 9 mm handguns, which police would later find on or near him.

Officials said on Wednesday that Thornton shot first at the people who were in the meeting -- Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington, Louis Felder Jr., 50, of Stamford, and HDI executive Steven Hollander, 50, of South Windsor.

New reports provide more details on what happened inside the beer distribution facility.

Cirigliano, president of the local unit of the Teamsters union, tried to stop Thornton when the shooting began, the Hartford Courant reports.

Felder was shot and died instantly, the Courant reports.

Hollander was shot twice and was released from Hartford Hospital on Tuesday.

Cirigliano ran toward Thornton, trying to stop the shooting, and was shot in the head, the Courant reports.

Thornton avoided some offices as he went after more coworkers. One person to avoid the gunfire was a woman in wheelchair, the newspaper reports.

Then, the Courant reports, Thornton chased Victor James, 61, of Windsor, and Edwin Kennison, 49, of East Hartford, out of the warehouse and shot them as they ran down a driveway.

Douglas Scruton, 56, of Manchester and New Hampshire, was on a forklift and was looking for the source of the noise when Thornton shot him from 40 feet away, the Courant reports. The forklift struck a wall and ignited.

James, Craig Pepin, 60, of South Windsor, and Francis Fazio, 57, of Bristol, likely saved lives when they warned other coworkers to flee. Thornton chased all three of them and shot them, the newspaper reports.

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