The woman who allegedly shot three co-workers -- killing two-- at the Kraft Plant Thursday night has been charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, burglary, and other related charges, says Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.
The victims and alleged shooter in the Kraft plant shooting had a history of arguing that dates back several years -- the suspect thought her co-workers were spraying chemicals on her and talking behind her back, according to police.
Yvonne Hiller, 43, got into an altercation with the two women and a male co-worker Thursday night, was taken to the supervisor's office, suspended and escorted out of the building.
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She went to her car, made several phone calls -- one to a male friend who she told she'd had enough. That man called police.
Ten minutes after being taken off the job, Hiller drove her car to the security gate and forced her way in at gunpoint, police say, and headed back up to the third floor armed with her .357 Magnum, which she has a permit to carry.
She went to the employee lounge, saw four of her co-workers -- three of with whom she'd just had the altercation. The fourth person told her to get out of the lounge. She shot the other three, police say. Bryant Dalton, 39, was shot in the neck and is hospitalized in good condition. Latonya Brown, 36, was shot in the head and Tanya Wilson, 47, was shot in the side. Both women died.
Brown's mother, Robin, says that in her last conversation with Latonya (about two hours before the shooting), she spoke of an argument she had with Hiller and told her mother that she feared for her life.
"She said 'Mom, I'm scared, Mom. I don't feel safe in here, Mom,'" recounts Brown.
Friends and co-workers flooded Wilson's Facebook. "My friend, my co worker, such a sweet and caring person, please know that you will be forever in our hearts. RIP," one woman wrote.
Wilson describes herself as a "hard working muslim sister" who does not drink or take drugs and was looking for the same in a mate.
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"Finally and hopefully able to buy a nice piece of land and retire in Maryland or Virginia," Wilson wrote on her page.
Hiller, who has been with the company for 15 years, went looking for the supervisor after she shot the three people, investigators say. A mechanic in the building used his walkie-talkie to alert people to get out of the building and his cell phone to alert police. He followed Hiller, who allegedly shot at him, but missed. Police say she also shot at her supervisor and missed him as well.
The suspect then went into a second floor office and made numerous phone calls -- including a 40 minute call to 911 to tell them what she'd done and why.
According to 911 dispatcher Janice Leader, Hiller called the emergency line and told them "I'm the one you're looking for."
"Before they [police] came in, I was trying to rush and tell her to get the gun down and put her hands on her head so they could see that she had no weapon on her and so that no one would take any aggressive action against her," says Leader.
SWAT was called. When they found Hiller on the second floor, she was in the fetal position on the floor. Her gun was empty, but she had more ammunition in her pockets, police say.
Police gave a lot of credit to the mechanic, David Ciarlante, saying the building is massive and that without his help, it might have taken them much longer to find Hiller. In fact, many are calling him a hero.
"I'm not a hero. There's people, there's families that just got torn apart over this. All I did was try to help people, you know, get people out of the way, let people know where she was," Ciarlante said.
Hiller has been charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder and related offenses.
In a statement about the shooting, Kraft Foods Director of Corporate Affairs Susan Davison said that the Kraft facility is going to be closed until further notice and the company will be providing counseling services for employees.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families. The loss of a loved one is a great sorrow," Davison said.
