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IPFS News Link • Mass Shootings

Texas: Man Was Fired Hours Before He Killed Eight People in a Shooting Rampage

• https://needtoknow.news, CNN

The Odessa Police Department on Sunday identified the man who killed seven people and wounded 22 others in a shooting spree in West Texas as Seth Ator, 36.

Ator had been fired from his trucking job just hours before his killing rampage, the New York Times reported, citing interviews with officials.

Ator was arrested in 2001 for criminal trespass and evading arrest, both misdemeanors, according to public records. Adjudication was deferred, though the details of the case were not immediately available. His record also includes a 2018 traffic citation for a federal motor carrier safety violation, according to Ector County court records.

A police booking photo from 2001 shows Seth Ator.

Ator was pulled over by Texas troopers in Midland on Saturday afternoon for failing to use his signal, police said. He then shot at them with what police described as an AR-type weapon and sped away.