Winston man charged with threatening boss
A Haleyville man who was arrested in December after threatening to shoot his supervisors at a local plant was indicted by a recent grand jury, courthouse officials said.
Ronnie Lee McKee, 48, 1626 Ninth Court, Haleyville, was indicted for making a terrorist threat, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said.
According to Red Bay Police Chief Janna Jackson, the alleged incident took place on Dec. 19 at Sunshine Mills, Inc. in Red Bay.
Jackson said the police department received a call that afternoon after employees reported that McKee had made statements that he was planning to shoot his supervisors at the dog food manufacturing plant.
Jackson said the employees immediately reported the incident to the proper department at the factory and company officials notified authorities.
“Once we were made aware of the threat, officers went to the plant and interviewed witnesses and questioned the suspect,” Jackson said.
“After questioning, an arrest warrant was issued for making a terrorist threat and he was taken into custody.”
Jackson said as a precaution, Red Bay Police officers went to McKee’s residence in Haleyville that same evening to search the premises and make sure there were no weapons in the home to back up the threats.
“We wanted to take every precaution we could to make sure he was no longer a threat to the employees at Sunshine Mills,” Jackson said.
She added that the employees who came forward and reported the threat were to be commended for taking steps to prevent workplace violence.
“It’s good that these employees recognized the signs of potential workplace violence and took the steps to prevent it,” Jackson said.
“In light of everything else that has happened recently across the country, you can’t be too careful when someone is making threatening statements like that. You just never know when that person is serious and when they might really be planning to harm or kill other people.
“I hope more people will be aware of their surroundings in the workplace and in other places so that hopefully we can prevent acts of violence from happening here.”
Rushing said McKee’s case would be set for arraignment on June 27.
