Prof. Janice Harper - Omar Thornton Killings: What We Are Afraid to Talk About

 

by Dr. Janice Harper

Was Omar Thornton mobbed? Does it really matter?  Omar Thornton was a driver at Hartford Distributors in Manchester, Connecticut who methodically shot and killed eight of his co-workers yesterday, wounding several others before killing himself.  The number of people who will live the rest of their lives with the grief and loss of those they loved is even greater, including his own family who never suspected Thornton could be so violent and cruel.  So given the savagery of his final acts, does it really matter if he was harassed, discriminated against, bullied or mobbed?

It does if it can prevent future acts of workplace vengeance.  When Lt. Governor M. Jodi Rell asked, “In the wake of this tragedy, we are all left asking the same questions: How could someone do this?  Why did they do this?” his question was treated almost as if it were rhetorical.  Any serious effort to answer it is blasted away with a flippant hate-filled remark as if trying to understand what drives workers to kill somehow excuses the killing and trivializes the trauma the survivors will forever suffer.

No one knows, and no one may ever know, what drove Omar Thornton to kill, or the full set of facts leading up to his horrific killings.  But what has been reported is that Omar Thornton had no history of crime, violence, or mental disturbance. Those who knew him described him as a hard worker, who worked long hours and many weekends.  A roommate of many years reported “He was a quiet person, not a mean bone in his body.”  The mother of his girlfriend of eight years described him as “mellow and peaceful.”  His cousin reported to the Hartford Courant, “I never in a million years – I’m still waiting for someone to wake me up because I cannot believe this.  Not him.”  The Courant reported “There was nothing about Thornton, whom they described as a ‘mama’s boy,’ that could have foreshadowed such a deadly outburst.  He was a hard worker.  He didn’t smoke.  He didn’t drink.  He had never been in trouble with the law.”

 

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