Search ends with naked suspect arrested after shooting at north Jackson plant

JACKSON, Tenn. — Gunfire erupts Thursday morning outside Black & Decker in north Jackson, sending officers rushing to the plant with guns drawn.

“Disgruntled employee, which turned into a workplace violence, active shooter type situation,” Jackson Police Chief Julian Wiser said.

Multiple agencies responded to the Stanley Black & Decker plant after a man slashed tires and opened fire on cars in the parking lot.

The incident turned out to be a violent outburst by a man Black & Decker later said was a temporary employee.

“Not over losing a job,” Stacie Fowler, whose fiance works inside the plant, said. “People lose jobs every day, and you don’t hear about them shooting up vehicles and trying to hurt people.”

“The suspect shot multiple vehicles, shot multiple times in the parking lot,” Chief Wiser said.

After a failed attempt to enter the plant, the shooter fled on foot to a cotton field, which started a manhunt.

Jackson police say the man was armed with a long gun that he ditched outside a pet grooming business.

Troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested the naked suspect in a field near Highway 45 and Ashport Road. For hours, Passmore Lane was closed as police processed evidence from the scene.

The shooting left some people shocked that something like this would happen in Jackson.

“It doesn’t happen,” Fowler said.  “You can turn on the news and think ‘OK, it’s going to happen somewhere else,’ but you don’t ever think about it happening around you.”

“You wouldn’t think it would happen, but it happens every day,” truck driver Christopher Jackson said. “We just got to be careful.”

After a workplace shooting, people are thankful cars were the only victims.

“We are just very fortunate that nobody got injured and nobody got killed today,” Chief Wiser said.

“To my knowledge no one got hurt, just vehicles, and that’s replaceable,” Fowler said.

Police say the shooting suspect did not make it inside the plant. At this time it isn’t clear how many cars were hit by the gunfire.

A spokesperson for Stanley Black & Decker says the plant canceled their second and third shifts Thursday and will reopen at 7 a.m. Friday.