A man killed five former co-workers "to punish some of the cowardly, racist devils" responsible for firing him from his city job, according to a suicide note released Saturday.
Clifton McCree, who was black, fired at least 13 bullets into an all-white group of parks employees Friday, then killed himself with a bullet to his head, police said.McCree, who had worked with all the employees except one, shot them as they sat at a conference table eating breakfast and discussing the day ahead as cleaners of the city's beaches and parks.
McCree was fired Dec. 9, 1994, from the $27,000-a-year job he had held for 18 years because he failed a drug test.
"He did have a drug problem, but other people (in the department) had a drug problem too," said Francina Davis, who lives down the street from McCree's home. "He thought everyone else should have been tested too, and fired" if they failed.
"He said it was because he was black and they were white," she said.
In his suicide note, McCree complained that he couldn't support his family after the firing.
"Since I couldn't continue to support my family, Life became nothing," he wrote. "I no longer wanted to live in this kind of world. I also wanted to punish some of the cowardly, racist devils that help bring this about, Along with the system."
Police said one of those killed, McCree's former boss, Tim Clifford, had initiated the dismissal.
After he was let go, McCree was twice fired as a security guard, most recently last week. His wife also was out of work.
According to his personnel file, McCree rated "above satisfactory," the second-highest overall commendation, in all of his yearly performance evaluations and was promoted three times after being hired in 1977.