The killer appeared to choose his victims.

Armed with a 9mm Glock semiautomatic handgun, police said, Andrew J. Engeldinger did not shoot indiscriminately.

"It's clear he did walk by some people, very clear," Police Chief Tim Dolan said Friday at a news conference as he described Thursday's killing spree at a Minneapolis sign company.

"Especially in the office area ... to get to certain other members of the office."

After learning he had been fired, Engeldinger fatally shot five people at Accent Signage Systems. He then turned the gun on himself.

By the time officers arrived, the rampage had ended and the victims lay scattered throughout the building, Dolan said.

The carnage left behind was so traumatic, Dolan said, that three police officers who had rushed to the scene were placed on leave.

Those killed were Accent Signage founder Reuven Rahamim, 61, of St. Louis Park; UPS driver Keith Basinski, 50, of Spring Lake Park, who happened to be at the business while doing his route; Rami Cooks, 62, of Minnetonka; Jacob Beneke, 34, of Maple Grove; and Ronald Edberg, 58, of Brooklyn Center.

Cooks, Beneke and Edberg were employees of the business. All five died of gunshot wounds; four of them were shot multiple times.

Several other victims were wounded but survived. Two remained at Hennepin County Medical Center on Friday evening. One was in critical condition, and the other was in serious condition.

Engeldinger's body was found in the basement, a gunshot wound to his head. A single bullet casing lay nearby.

Family members said the 36-year-old Minneapolis man suffered from mental illness.

The shooting remains an active investigation, but Dolan confirmed that Engeldinger was "terminated" Thursday at the business in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood just west of downtown Minneapolis.

A person familiar with Accent Signage Systems said Engeldinger had worked on the first floor of the plant, operating a machine that did etching on acrylic panels.

Police initially said Engeldinger was fired in the morning, then returned in the afternoon. But police revised their account later Friday, saying they were piecing together chaotic events from witnesses and that no one saw the shooting from start to finish.

Capt. Amelia Huffman said it appears Engeldinger got a letter of reprimand in the mail, came into the office in the afternoon and was terminated.

"This had been an ongoing employee situation, which culminated in termination in the afternoon," Huffman said, though police did not detail any reasons for the firing. "From the best we can tell, the incident started right after Mr. Engeldinger had been fired."

She said there was a struggle in the office and shots were fired, and employees elsewhere in the building heard gunshots.

"And Mr. Engeldinger left the back office area and fired additional shots throughout the building," she said.

There were more than 20 people in the building at the time.

Four of the shooting victims died at the scene. The fifth -- Cooks -- died Friday at HCMC.

Two executives at Accent Signage Systems, Eric Rivers and John Souter, remained hospitalized Friday at HCMC. Rivers was in critical condition and Souter was in serious condition.

A fourth injured person was treated and released, according to HCMC.

The 911 calls began around 4:30 p.m., Dolan said, and the shooting rampage probably lasted 10 to 15 minutes.

The police chief noted that the responding officers -- Rod Weber, Michael Griffin and Richard Walker -- who have been placed on administrative leave "experienced something very, very traumatic."

He said officers entered the building at 2322 Chestnut Ave. right away, helping paramedics to get in and assist victims, before the scene had been declared safe. He called the actions of all the first responders "very courageous."

"There was no delay in officer response," Dolan said. "They did what they were supposed to do. They went in as quickly as possible."

Dolan said he walked through the building Friday to survey the scene, which crime lab technicians were still processing.

"I looked at these desks. Desks with family pictures," Dolan said. "There were obvious signs of conflict. It was

clear they had a hellish time."

He said there were indications the victims fought back, but he declined to elaborate.

Police tactical teams required a long time to search the maze-like building, which contained both office and manufacturing space, and found two people hiding "a very long time" after the attack began, Dolan said.

During a Thursday evening search of Engeldinger's one-story stucco house in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of South Minneapolis, police found another gun and packaging for 10,000 rounds of ammunition, which was purchased a year ago, Dolan said.

"He obviously had this gun for a while and had been practicing how to use it," Dolan said.

Engeldinger's home, at 3721 12th Ave. S., sits in a well-kept neighborhood within view of an elementary school. It showed signs Friday of the police raid. Broken glass and bent window frames were on the ground near the front door. A large window on the front of the house was boarded up and bore a sign from the city of Minneapolis. A screen panel on a rear porch was destroyed.

Neighbors said Thursday a single man lived in the house. Last week, they said, a man was arrested on the home's lawn. He was put in a squad car and kicked the window out, neighbors said.

Engeldinger has no arrest record, according to Minneapolis police.

Meanwhile, Carolyn Engeldinger stood next to her husband and cried as he made a brief statement about their son in front of the couple's small Richfield home Friday afternoon.

"Our son struggled with mental illness. In the last few years, he no longer had contact with us. This is not an excuse for his actions, but sadly, may be a partial explanation," Chuck Engeldinger said in a quiet voice before retreating back into the one-story house with his wife.

The couple walked hand-in-hand out of the home just after 3 p.m. to address media. Both huddled together as the statement was read while a female relative stood behind them with her arms around them.

"They are grieving for their son ... they are having a really tough time," Sue Abderholden, the director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said of Andrew Engeldinger's parents.

The couple reached out to her in the wake of the slayings.

"Several years ago they tried to get him support (for his mental illness) but he cut them off," Abderholden said.

Engeldinger, who was single, struggled with paranoia and delusions, though Abderholden said she did not know whether he had been diagnosed with a specific mental illness. His family did not know if he was taking medication, Abderholden said.

Before the onset of symptoms, Engeldinger was close to his family, Abderholden said. He started showing signs of mental illness "several years ago," Abderholden said. About 21 months ago, he stopped speaking to them altogether.

"This is not the son they knew," Abderholden said. "He has a very warm, loving family."

Without any contact with their son in recent years, the family did not know if he had developed violent tendencies, Aberholden said. She added that violence rarely accompanies mental illness.

The family asked for privacy as they process what's happened and expressed their condolences to those killed and injured in the shooting.

"Our hearts go out to the families. ... Nothing we can say can make up for their loss," Chuck Engeldinger said.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, speaking at the news conference with Dolan, said the incident was "beyond belief" and urged people to pause and reflect.

"I believe it's critically important, every time something like this happens, for each of us to look in the mirror and ask if we want to be standing here again," Rybak said.

He said Rahamim was a pillar of the local business community and that Accent Signage is known around the world. When the White House wanted a good example of a local exporter last year, Rybak said his office pointed to Accent Signage, which makes Braille and other signage for the disabled.

White House officials, remembering Rahamim and his business, called Friday to offer condolences, Rybak said.

Rybak said the death of Accent Signage owner Rahamim was a devastating loss.

Rahamim had come to the United States from Israel to live the American dream, the mayor said.

"He was an example of somebody who climbed the ladder of success."

Tad Vezner and Tom Webb contributed to this report, which contains information from the Associated Press.