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WAKEFIELD, Mass., Updated 6:18 a.m. EST December 27, 2000 -- Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley says that garnishment of wages might have been the motive in a fatal office shooting Tuesday that left seven people dead.
It's been confirmed that all worked at Edgewater Technology Inc. and that most worked in the accounting department. Coakley said the shootings were apparently not random, since the suspect bypassed several people during the rampage. She said that two were killed in the reception area and that five were at their work stations.
Michael McDermott, a 42-year-old employee of Edgewater Technology, was arrested in connection with the shooting deaths just after 11 a.m. Tuesday.
An employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said that McDermott had an angry outburst in the company's accounting department last week over the prospect of losing some of his wages.
Coakley says the shootings took five to 10 minutes.
Coakley says the IRS contacted the company recently and told them the garnishing would happen to McDermott's wages after the holidays.
McDermott was arrested shortly after the shootings and subdued by SWAT teams. Coakley says that an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol were in his possession when he was taken into custody.
"There was an enormous amount of firepower," Coakley said.
She said that McDermott did not have a permit for any of the weapons he was carrying.
Investigators searched McDermott's apartment Tuesday evening.
"He was sitting in the lobby when (Wakefield police) arrived, heavily armed," Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney John McEvoy said.
McEvoy said that McDermott was an employee of the company, located at Foundry and Albion Streets, who had reported for work Tuesday morning.
McDermott, of Haverhill, Mass., had been working for the company as a software tester since March.
A co-worker, Mike Stanley, described him as a pretty friendly guy to work with, but "a little strange" and "quirky."
Stanley described McDermott as a large, bearded man, over 6-feet tall and weighing about 300 pounds.
Other co-workers said that McDermott probably didn't know the victims and they were puzzled as to why he would be a suspect in the killings.
Survivors of the attack were in shock, said the Rev. Tom Powers, who helped with grief counseling at St. Joseph's Church, where about 100 employees, family members and friends gathered after the shooting. They left sporadically, their faces stained by tears and holding each other for support.
Powers said there was little he could do: "There's nothing you can do to take the grief away."
One employee at the church told a friend that she hid under her desk when she heard the gunfire.
"She said she didn't make a sound," said the friend, who asked that his name not be used. "That's probably why she's alive."
"It's a small company so you get to know everybody there, so something like this happens ... it's very distressing," one tearful female employee said.
"This isn't something that's going to sink in and people are going to deal with right away. It's going to take time and everybody's very bothered by it," another male employee said.
Stanley, who is one of the company's team leaders, said the deaths of seven co-workers and friends just doesn't make sense. He had been supervising a project on which McDermott had been working.
"(He was)a pretty amiable guy. He was real good to get along with. He was joking. He joked with lots of people. He joked with a bunch of people before he went on the rampage," Stanley said.
Stanley said McDermott had no relationship with any of the victims outside of work.
"He had nothing to do with any of them and it just seems like a random, ridiculous thing, because the people that I've heard, the (victims') names that I've heard, really had nothing to do with him, performance-wise or work-wise. It was a lot of the support people and none of it makes any sense," Stanley said.
Jonathan Oldham of Weymouth, Mass., said that McDermott lived in his apartment building until the end of October, when he moved out.
Oldham said that McDermott lived alone and was "quiet."
McEvoy said that a thorough search of the building had been performed after the shooting and there were no other victims and no other suspects. There were between 50 and 70 employees in the building at the time of the shooting.
According to the company's Web site, Edgewater is an Internet strategy consulting firm with headquarters in Wakefield and offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota and New Hampshire.
The Harvard Mills office complex, which also houses other businesses, was evacuated after the shooting. The building was searched, but no other gunmen were found.
Edgewater Technology, Inc. issued the following statement, in wake of the shootings that took place at its offices.
Shirley Singleton, Chief Executive Officer of Edgewater Technology, said: "It is my sad duty to confirm that a shooting took place at our Wakefield office earlier (Tuesday). The details of this morning's events remain unclear at this time and we will be assisting the police in every way possible with their investigation. Pending this investigation, there is nothing further that we can add at this time."
"Everyone at Edgewater Technology is shocked and devastated by the loss of our friends. We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims' families at this tragic time."
McEvoy said that McDermott will be arraigned on seven charges of first degree murder in Malden District Court on Wednesday.
Copyright 2000 by TheBostonChannel. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
