Six people — including the suspected gunman — were shot to death Thursday afternoon at Accent Signage Systems, located in a quiet residential corner of northwest Minneapolis. Police say Andrew Engeldinger, 36, was fired from the company that afternoon and responded by fatally shooting others there before he turned the gun on himself in the building's basement.
Among those killed were Reuven Rahamim, 61, the company's founder; Rami Cooks, 62, of Minnetonka; Jacob Beneke, 34, of Maple Grove; Ronald Edberg, 58, of Brooklyn Center; and Keith Basinski, 50, a Wisconsin native who was the UPS driver.
No details were immediately released about why Engeldinger was fired, but Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said it appeared he singled out some victims and spared others. Engeldinger's family offered sympathy to the victims in a statement through the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It said he had struggled with mental illness for years.
"This is not an excuse for his actions, but sadly, may be a partial explanation," the statement said.
Rahamim's family asked that the focus of the tragedy be on those killed rather than the gunman. Rahamim's son-in law, Chad Blumenfield, wrote in an email that he was born and raised on a farm in Israel and was a soldier in the Israeli Army before leaving for the U.S. after the Yom Kippur War, which occurred in 1973.
"He loved spending time with his children and grandchildren and especially loved to take his grandson for bike rides," Blumenfield wrote.
Beneke had a wife and a young son, said Lorrie Link, who heads the Maple Grove Arts Center. She said Beneke was a volunteer there, where he displayed his work and promoted the work of other artists in the suburb northwest of Minneapolis.
Beneke's Facebook page said he worked as digital imaging manager at Accent Signage Systems.
"He was just a very cool guy. He was very creative and expressive," Link said of the New Albin, Iowa, native. "His sculptures and paintings and drawings made us laugh."
Basinski was a Wisconsin native dedicated to the Green Bay Packers. Dolan said he likely wasn't one of the gunman's primary targets but was killed simply because he happened to be there.
Minneapolis Police Capt. Amelia Huffman said the scene at Accent Signage Systems was "very chaotic" and that it was taking time for police to put together a comprehensive chronology. She said there were more than 20 people scattered in the building when Engeldinger began firing, and witnesses only saw bits of what happened.
Huffman said police believe Engeldinger got a letter of reprimand in the mail and came into the office Thursday afternoon. At that point, he was terminated.
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