By Gary Lloyd
BIRMINGHAM — The victims of Tuesday morning’s shooting at the UPS Customer Center in north Birmingham have been identified.
The victims are Brian Callans, 46, and Doug Hutcheson, 33, UPS confirmed in a statement. Callans was a Birmingham resident and Hutcheson a resident of Odenville.
The shooter was identified as Joe Tesney, 45, of Argo.
“UPS sends our condolences to the families of these three individuals,” the statement said. “They have asked for privacy during this difficult time. The safety and well-being of our employees is our primary focus. We are providing the families of the victims, along with the employees who work in this facility, with counseling and support. UPS continues to cooperate with authorities in the investigation.”
Callans’ LinkedIn profile states that he worked at UPS since 1988 and was a business manager. He attended UAB from 1987 to 1992, where he studied management information systems.
Hutcheson, a 1999 Clay-Chalkville High School graduate, was an operations supervisor at UPS since July 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was a UPS driver from June 2004 through July 2011 and worked as a pre-loader at UPS from August 1999 through June 2004. Hutcheson was married with 4-year-old twin sons. He helped with the baseball league in Moody where his sons played.
A source said both victims were “really good guys. Great guys to work with.”
Upon officers’ arrival at the UPS Customer Center on Tuesday morning, they initiated a plan of action and proceeded into the building. Once inside, they observed three people lying on the floor inside the facility suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the body. One person was located outside one of the offices and the other two people were located inside one of the offices. All three individuals were pronounced dead by Birmingham Fire and Rescue.
The Birmingham Police Department’s preliminary investigation revealed that one of the deceased was the shooter, who was terminated from his employment. Apparently, the suspect received his final notification letter in the mail that upheld his termination. The suspect drove himself to the location wearing his work uniform and entered the facility with a firearm and shot two co-workers who were part of management. Detectives are investigating the death as a murder-suicide.
“We are continuing to put the investigative pieces together in this tragic incident of work place violence,” said Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper. “We are doing what we can to assist the families of the victims and their co-workers.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
