Employee kills 7 coworkers
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from November 1999.
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It was the worst mass killing in Hawaii, a state with one of the lowest murder rates in the nation.
Police believe Byran Uyesugi, a 15-year Xerox employee, shot seven fellow copier technicians before fleeing in a company van with a gun.
"It appears it was a disgruntled employee who snapped," Mayor Jeremy Harris said.
The gunman stopped several miles away in a residential neighbourhood. Police cordoned off the area and began negotiating with Some seven hours after the shooting began, Uyesugi emerged from the van, walked to the back of the vehicle with his hands raised and then fell down on the ground. His brother, Dennis, helped in the negotiations.
Police commando teams raced toward him with automatic weapons drawn. No shots were heard and no injuries reported.
"Like all of us at Xerox, you undoubtedly have the question, `Why? How could this have happened?" Xerox Hawaii general manager Glenn Sexton said.
"Only time and the work of HPD (Honolulu Police Dept.) will determine that. Perhaps we'll never know."
KITV-TV, quoting unidentified sources, said Uyesugi - clad in the usual Hawaiian print shirt - was on his way to a meeting when he shot two men, missed a third, and then shot five more. He then left the building and waved goodbye to another co-worker before driving off.
Uyesugi, 40, was being booked for investigation of first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory penalty of life without parole.
"It's a shock for all of us. We have such a safe community with almost no violent crime," Harris said. "To have someone snap like this and murder seven people is just absolutely appalling."
Hawaii had 24 murders last year and was tied with Rhode Island as the state with the third fewest murders in the nation, according to the FBI.
