A Home Depot employee reportedly laid off shot and killed his supervisor before killing himself on Sunday at a Manhattan store.
The gunman, Calvin Esdaile, 31, was at the store's lighting department, and was in an argument with his manager, 38, around 2:40 p.m. EST when the incident took place.
According to witnesses, Esdaile snapped and then shot his manager at least three times before pointing the gun to his head and killing himself.
"I heard some shots towards the back of the store. It sounded like four or five. I heard someone yell, 'Oh, my God, he's dead!' Everyone was running and screaming and ducking," an employee at the store told the media.
Esdaile walked in to the West 23rd store around 2:40 p.m. and was reportedly seen in an argument with the store manager. Witnesses say that they heard about 4-5 shots after the shooter and the manager yelled at each other, reports say.
According to the police, the manager has been shot three times, two of which were on the chest and abdomen, he was taken to the hospital, but was later on pronounced dead. The shooter shot himself in the head and was pronounced dead at the crime scene. Police have recovered a .38 caliber gun at the scene.
The shooter's father, Calvin Esdaile Sr., was shocked to hear the news.
"I don't know what to say. I feel bad for the other family. My heart goes out to them. I don't know why he went there and why he did this," Esdaile's father told reporters.
Co-workers of both the victim and the shooter did not believe the news the first time they heard it, and thought it was a joke. According to co-workers, Esdaile did not seem like someone who would do such a crime, and the manager, on one hand, was a funny and likeable person.
"We're deeply saddened by this tragedy. We are fully cooperating with the authorities on their investigation of what appears to have been an isolated incident," Home Depot said in a statement.
Investigations are still ongoing and the topic of the argument is still unclear at the moment.
