Police escort shooting suspect Byran Uyesugi to the police station in Honolulu on Tuesday

November 3, 1999
Web posted at: 12:06 p.m. EDT (1606 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

In this story: Suspect's brother helped negotiate Police seize guns and rifles RELATED STORIES, SITES

HONOLULU (CNN) -- The Xerox Corp. warehouse where police say an employee shot and killed seven co-workers was expected to be open for business on Thursday, with counselors available for shocked and grieving staff.

The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Byran Uyesugi, who joined Xerox 15 years ago, surrendered on Tuesday after an armed standoff with police. Police said he would be charged with first-degree murder.

It was the worst mass killing in Hawaii, a state with one of the lowest murder rates in the nation.

AUDIO Listen to Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris saying police have surrounded the suspect 204K/19 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Listen to Robin McColloch, of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services, describe the scene at the Xerox building 632K/59 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     ALSO Multiple shootings this year     MESSAGE BOARD Murder at Xerox

Richard Soo of the Honolulu Fire Department said the gunman entered a conference room of the Xerox parts warehouse at 8:10 a.m. local time and opened fire, targeting "members of his technical work group." He said no one else was shot and some people in the room survived the attack.

Police said the seven employees killed all were men. Others in the conference room of the company's parts repair warehouse for what a company official described as a routine "team meeting" of service technicians survived the attack.

Five victims were found dead in the conference room and two other bodies were found nearby.

SWAT teams were dispatched to the area after the shots rang out, and police closed off streets around the Nimitz Highway warehouse as well as Xerox offices elsewhere in the downtown area.

Officials said the suspect fled in a company van but was cornered by police in the residential neighborhood of Makiki Heights after the van was spotted by a jogger. The suspect's surrender followed several hours of negotiations.

Police cordoned off a half-mile area around his van, which was near the Hawaii Nature Center. About 60 fourth-graders and 12 chaperones were on a nature hike when police told them to get to higher ground. A school bus with two rifle-toting police officers then took the students to safety.

About 10 homes were evacuated. Other neighborhood residents set up lawn chairs in the streets to watch the situation unfold.

Some seven hours after the shooting began, Uyesugi emerged from the van, walked to the back of the vehicle with his hands raised and then fell down on the ground. His brother, Dennis, had helped in the negotiations.

The gunman's motive was still unknown late Tuesday.

A Xerox statement said it evacuated both its Honolulu facilities "to protect the safety and security of our employees, and for the comfort of the families of the victims."

Company spokesman Bill McKee in Rochester, New York, said the shooting was Xerox's first experience with serious workplace violence and the "worst tragedy" in the company's 50-year history.

He said Uyesugi joined Xerox in 1984 and serviced copy machines, printers, fax machines and scanners -- as did the co-workers he is accused of targeting.

"Currently there were no issues with his work status," McKee said. Only four of Xerox's 92 Honolulu employees normally work out of the warehouse, McKee said, but more were there Tuesday morning for what he described as a "team meeting."

Deputy Police Chief Mike Carvalho said 20 shell casings from a 9 mm handgun were recovered at the shooting scene. He said the gun believed to have been used in the shootings was recovered from the van.

Officers, with cooperation from the suspect's father, seized 11 handguns, five rifles and two shotguns that allegedly belonged to Uyesugi, said Carvalho.

"It looks like he just walked into the room and shot seven co-workers," said Mayor Jeremy Harris.

"Something must have happened to this mild-mannered person to have him do this," said Harris. "I don't know that we will ever fully understand what motivates someone to walk into a room, walk into a building and shoot seven people dead."

"We lost seven of our very best people," said Xerox Honolulu-based Vice President Glenn Sexton. "We grieve for them and we grieve for their families."

Uyesugi's family offered condolences to the families of the victims. "We also are trying to understand what happened today," the family said in a statement.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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