As the alleged shooter is scheduled to appear in court, authorities said Thursday that a second employee has died one day after the horrific shooting at a cosmetics factory in Ohio.
A day after being struck at work in New Albany, which is around 15 miles northeast of Columbus, Shakhar Chapagai, 30, was declared dead late Wednesday at a Columbus hospital, according to officials. The identity of the staff member who was declared dead at the site is still unknown.
Officials reported that one employee informed them during a panicked 911 call that Chapagai had been shot in the neck. The caller further claimed that he gave the pistol to a supervisor after removing it from the shooter and a coworker.
In addition, four additional workers suffered injuries. On Thursday, their situations remained unknown. Just before police arrived at the scene, accused shooter Bruce Reginald Foster III, 28, took a rideshare away, according to New Albany Police Chief Greg Jones.
About 12 hours after the carnage, he was eventually located at an apartment in Columbus on Wednesday. Chief Deputy US Marshal Dan Deville said that when he refused to surrender, he was subdued with a stun gun.
Jones, the police chief, stated that he “wouldn’t call him fully cooperative,” even though Foster eventually spoke with investigators.
Police stated they did not receive “reports of an altercation beforehand or afterward,” and they have not yet determined a motive.
But according to the police chief, “it looks to be a targeted type of attack at this point.”
Jones stated, without providing specifics, that “it does appear that there was a contact between a victim and the shooter.” “I don’t have a clear picture of how involved that contact was.”
Foster is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday afternoon over a charge of felony aggravated murder. Additional charges are possible, according to officials. No lawyer was listed in the court files who could speak for him.
When the shooting occurred, roughly 150 workers were inside the building; they were evacuated to a nearby structure. At the site, a pistol was also found.
