April 14th Detroit, MI Former Employee Shot by Stranger In Lobby of TV Station

A former employee comes to the workplace and a shooting occurs. But this incident has unique twist. John Owens, 53, was visiting the lobby of a TV station WDIV-TV when he was shot by a man who had apparently been harassing and assaulting company employees for the past year. At approximately 4:15 p.m., Owens was there to pick up a video tape when a unidentified man entered the lobby but was not given admittance to the building since the receptionist recognized him as someone who they have had problems with before. The man then shot Owens and fled. Authorities later apprehended a suspect. A spokesman of the station stated that although they regret that a former employee was hurt, the security systems that they had in place did their job. The suspect obviously came to the station to inflict harm but was identified (and recorded) on the CCTV system and not buzzed in to the building. In a American Society of Employers survey of 245 Detroit-area companies, 61 percent said they had a workplace violence policy in place in 2004, up from 41 percent in 2000.