CHICAGO — A demoted worker shot and critically wounded his company’s CEO before fatally shooting himself Thursday inside a downtown Chicago high-rise office building in the city’s bustling financial district, police said.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said a worker at a technological company pulled a gun after entering the 17th-floor office to meet one-on-one with his CEO. There was a struggle for the gun, and the CEO was shot twice before the gunman fatally shot himself, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said the company was downsizing and “a number of people,” including the alleged shooter, were being demoted.
“Apparently he was despondent over the fact that he got demoted,” McCarthy said.
The 54-year-old victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition, while the other man, described as the 59-year-old offender, was pronounced dead at the scene. Their names haven’t been released.
The office is in the Bank of America building, two blocks from the Willis Tower, the country’s second-tallest skyscraper, and a block from the Chicago Board of Trade and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Officers were called to the scene around 9:50 a.m. and found two men on the floor in an office, police spokesman Martin Maloney said.
Workers said they received emails from the building security at about 10 a.m. telling them there was a security situation in the lobby and to stay at their desks. A few minutes later, someone came over the intercom to tell them everything was clear.
“We didn’t know what to think,” said Jay Patel, who works on the 11th floor.
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