A former Penske employee who worked with Jesse James Warren said the alleged gunman in Tuesday's deadly rampage was "not right for some time."
Warren was unsociable and unable to focus on work, David Clark told the AJC on Thursday.
"We would try to bring him into the conversation and he would just get up and walk away," said Clark, who worked at Penske Truck Rental near Kennesaw for more than a year. "When we tried to joke with him, he would not joke back. He really never had a lot to say to anybody."
Four of Clark's former colleagues and a customer were shot by a camouflage-clad Warren, police say. He lost his job at Penske last summer. Police aren’t commenting on a motive.
Warren walked into the building and fired multiple times from at least two handguns, according to an arrest warrant obtained Thursday by the AJC .
Police recovered several guns from Warren’s pickup at the time of his arrest and found several more at his home in Temple, while conducting a search warrant Tuesday night, Cobb County police spokesman Joe Hernandez said.
Three of the shooting victims died. Two remained in critical condition Thursday at a Cobb hospital.
Clark, 30, said he worked with Warren and victims Roberto Gonzalez, 31 and Van Springer, 59, who were killed; and Joshua Holbrook, 27, and Zachariah Werner, 35, who are in critical condition. The fifth victim, Jaider Felipe Marulanda, was a driver for El Maizal, a local food distributor and Penske customer.
Warren, Clark said, typically behaved as if "his mind was somewhere else."
"He just looked like he did not have any focus, just walking around staring into space," Clark said. "There would be certain times that me and other people would say, ‘What is he doing? Is he staring at the ceiling? Or at the wall?' He was not right for some time."
Jeff Peters, who runs Jeff's Transmissions and More around the corner from Warren's house, said he talked several times with Warren, who visited his shop.
Warren once mentioned his frustration at losing his job, Peters said.
"A 60-year-old man who loses his job – he's not going to get another one. It's not going to happen," Peters said. "That would make anybody explode." But, Peters said, "You don't want to shoot somebody."
As for the multiple guns police found in Warren's home, Peters said a lot of folks in Temple have guns, including himself.
"The government was trying to put a stop on semi-automatic guns and ammo, so everybody was stocking up," Peters said.
For Clark, who worked at Penske until last September, the loss of former colleagues was like losing family members.
Gonzalez made goofy faces and pulled practical jokes, Clark recalled. His smile was contagious. Clark leaned on Holbrook for comfort and advice, particularly after he lost his grandfather in September. Werner, he said, was a sports fanatic who revered the Atlanta Braves and the Michigan Wolverines and helped coach his son's football team. Clark looked up to Springer too, "like a grandfather figure."
"We all talked, cut up; you couldn't ask for better people to be around," Clark said.
The Penske facility plans to reopen with limited services Friday. It will be fully operational Monday, company spokesman Randy Ryerson said.
Meanwhile, funerals for the victims begin this week.
The funeral service for Springer will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Hopewell Baptist Church in Canton. The service for Marulanda also will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Our Lady of the Americas Mission in Lilburn. Arrangements for Gonzalez were not available.
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