Springfield police trying to make sense of Bunn-O-Matic shooting

Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow. (Photo courtesy: Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – “We kind of know the Who, What When, Where, and How. We’re missing the Why.”

Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow held a news conference Wednesday afternoon to update the public on last week’s workplace shooting.

“We’re trying to make sense of a senseless situation,” Winslow continued. “We’re trying to do that in an effort to provide those answers to the victims’ families and the public.”

Any or all of that information may have died with the gunman and three victims. A Wednesday afternoon news conference provided no new substantive information about Friday’s triple homicide at Bunn-O-Matic’s Stevenson Drive warehouse.

Still unclear: whether the gunman chose his victims at random or what kind of relationship he may have had with them besides being co-workers.

Police say Michael Collins, 48, Springfield, fatally shot Chris Aumiller, 25, Springfield; Marsha Strumpher, 54, Springfield; and Billy Gibbons, 61, Springfield, before driving to Morgan County and killing himself.

Winslow said Collins had two guns on him at Bunn and in Morgan County, and believes Collins shot himself in the head.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

 

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…