Valley Protein, a chicken packing plant, is a noisy business when machines are up and running. Some workers even wear ear plugs. Police say the shootings were fast and unexpected. The victims literally never heard it coming.
Manuel Verdin, 34, and Salvador Diaz, 32, were killed. Arnulfo Conrriquez is in serious condition and Fatima Lopez is back at home recovering. Lopez did not answer her front door Tuesday night to tell her story.
Back at the plant, CBS47 spoke to a man who lives nearby. He did not want to be on camera, but said it was pure chaos after the shootings. Some of the 60 workers inside came out and fell to the ground.
“They were just hysterical. They never experienced anything like that before so they were just in shock,” said the man who wanted to be anonymous.
He said he use to work at the chicken packing plant, and said it can be hectic with forklifts and conveyor belts running. Chief Jerry Dyer said the shooting happened in what's called the ‘de-boning’ room. The victims were close to one another and the shooter was deliberate.
“[The suspect] walked up to Diaz, shot him, walked over to the second victim, shot him, walked over to the third victim, shot him, again with none of those victims knew a round had been fired at that point,” said Dyer.
The fourth victim was the only one who had warning. Lopez was running away when she was shot below her waist.