MANCHESTER, Conn. — After brutally murdering eight people, crazed gunman Omar Thornton called 911 and confessed to the crime, saying he “took things into his own hands” before killing himself, according to a chilling audiotape released today.
“Is this 911? This is Omar Thornton. The shooter over in Manchester,” he said to Connecticut Trooper William Taylor in a chilling phone call.
In explaining the reason why he went on the murder spree, Thornton said, “Basically this is a racist place. They treat me bad over here. They treat all other black people bad over here too, so I just took things into my own hands and handled the problem. I wish I could have gotten more of the people.”
Thornton made the chilling call from the offices of Hartford Distributors just moments after he killed eight co-workers and injured several more.
He told Taylor several times during the four-minute call that he was “relaxed.”
“I’m not going to kill nobody else here. I just want to tell my story so that you can play it back,” Thornton added.
Thornton even threatened to kill himself, something he did before cops arrived.
“When they find me everything will already be all over,” he said.
Before hanging up, Thornton said, “Tell my people I love them and I got to go now.”
The phone call was released today and first posted on The Hartford Courant website.
The call comes as Thornton’s girlfriend has refused to meet with authorities and review a videotape of him stealing beer.
Thornton’s girlfriend Kristi Hannah said today that Manchester police called her to come and identify a woman on the video who is seen receiving beer from her boyfriend.
Hannah said she refused to go because she’s “nervous about speaking to the police.”
The video has not been publicly released, but triggered the Tuesday massacre after Thornton was fired for stealing beer.
Also today, the owner of the beer distribution company confirmed that Thornton had been stealing beer and selling it.
Ross Hollander, president of Hartford Distributors, said the investigation into thefts led to a disciplinary hearing Tuesday in which Thornton was forced to resign.
Thornton then snapped, fatally shooting eight and wounding two others before killing himself.
Hollander said Thornton, who was black, had been “embraced as a member of our team” and that there had been no complaints by him or anyone else against the company for racism.
With AP