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64 FBI L. Enforcement Bull. 20 (1995)
Death in the Office: Workplace Homicides

handle is hein.journals/fbileb64 and id is 120 raw text is: 











Death In The Office

Workplace Homicides
By
T. STANLEY  DUNCAN,  M.S.


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             his is what you get
             forfiring me. These
             were the last words
that three former coworkers of
Paul Calden would ever hear. Fired
9 months earlier from an insurance
company in Tampa, Florida. Calden
returned to the cafeteria of his
former employer and began shoot-
ing. Within minutes, five people
were wounded, three of whom died.
    Calden fled in a rental car, only
to comuit suicide in a park where he
used to play frisbee. In many ways,
Calden was  a classic, violence-
prone ex-employee, and in many
ways, he was not. But the type of
crime he committed is on the rise
and is one of the newest and most
threatening dangers in the work-
place.
    This article focuses on work-
place homicides  committed  by
known assailants. It highlights com-
mon offender characteristics to help
law enforcement apprehend  sus
pects. Finally, it identifies the
causes of such crimes, which may
prevent them from occurring in the
first place.

BACKGROUND
    According to the National Insti-
tute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH), homicide was the
third leading cause of occupational
death from 1980 to 1985, account-
ing for 13 percent of all workplace
deaths.2 For women, homicide is the
leading cause of death in the work-
place. A 1993 study conducted by
an insurance company found that
strangers made only 16 percent of
threats in the workplace: customers
or clients made 36 percent; current
or former employees accounted for
the majority 43 percent.'


20 / FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin


41

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