What's going on: Conn. workplace shooter who killed 8 others 'was cold as ice'

Also: Iran denies assassination attempt on president; BP says 'static kill' is working.

Charles Krupa / The Associated PressA priest kneels in prayer with three women outside Manchester High School, a gathering point for the families, co-workers and friends of shooting victims in Manchester, Conn., Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. A warehouse driver who was asked to resign his job at a beer distributor refused, then opened fire Tuesday morning, a company executive said. He killed eight people, then himself.

From The Associated Press:

Manchester, Conn. -- Omar Thornton sat calmly in a meeting with union representative and his supervisors as they showed a video of him stealing beer from the distributor where he worked.


Busted, he didn't put up a fight, company officials said. He quietly signed a letter of resignation and was headed for the door when he pulled out a gun and started firing - "cold as ice," as one survivor described it.


In the end, Thornton killed eight people, injured two, then turned the gun on himself in a rampage Tuesday at Hartford Distributors that union and company officials said they would not have anticipated from someone with no history of complaints or disciplinary problems.

» Iran denies claims of assassination attempt on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [The Guardian]

» ‘Static kill’ appears to be working in well, BP says [The New York Times]

» Another incumbent down as Michigan Rep. loses [The Associated Press]