Lockheed shooter called company hotline for help

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
Dec. 13, 2003
Investigators discovered that Doug Williams called a Lockheed Martin company hotline weeks before he shot and killed six of his fellow employees and then took his own life
Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie said Friday deputies found documentation from Lockheed Martin that Williams phoned the hotline on June 20, weeks before the July 8 shooting, to complain that he was being mistreated.
Sollie announced the discovery at a news conference at the Lauderdale County jail on Friday. Sollie said Williams made the phone call days after returning to work from a five-to-six-day leave of absence after a confrontation with another employee.
On June 12, Williams put a white environmentally protective stocking on his head in what corporate officials called an apparent hazing of a new employee.
Williams refused to take the stocking off his head after another employee complained it was racially offensive. He was then sent home for five to six days.
It was the second such reported incident between Williams and a fellow employee. Another conflict was reported in Williams' Lockheed personnel file in December 2001.
At least one of the victims' family members said they believe the company could have prevented the shooting considering Williams' history of problems.
Bobby McCall, whose wife Lynette was one of the six employees killed in the shooting, said he believes his wife of 21 years would still be alive if Lockheed officials had acted responsibly.
Lockheed spokesman Sam Grizzle said Friday that he believes company officials handled the situation appropriately.
Grizzle also said he believes Lockheed officials handled Williams' complaints.
McCall, though, said he believes something should have been done before Williams snapped.