Clinton County Sheriff Rich Kelly takes a moment as he provides an update to the media after two women were fatally shot in the parking lot of the NHK Seating of America automotive plant, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021, in Frankfort, Ind. (Nikos Frazier/Journal & Courier via AP)
August 19, 2021 - 11:54 AM
FRANKFORT, Ind. (AP) — Police investigating the fatal shootings of a woman and her granddaughter outside a central Indiana automotive seating plant searched the home Thursday of a co-worker suspected in the killings.
Officers searched Gary Ferrell II’s Frankfort home following the double slaying outside NHK Seating of America during a shift change Wednesday night. A shed and detached garage were also searched.
About 1 a.m. Thursday, officers were seen carrying what appeared to be two cases for rifles or shotguns and a smaller case resembling ones used for handguns, the Journal & Courier reported.
Ferrell, 26, is suspected of killing co-workers Promise Mays, 21, and her grandmother, Pamela Sled, 62, both of nearby Rossville, in the plant's parking lot as they arrived about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday for their evening shifts, Clinton County Sheriff Rich Kelly said.
Ferrell had not yet been charged as of 2 p.m. Thursday, according to online court records. He was being held at the Clinton County Jail. Co-workers identified him as the shooter, Kelly said.
After the shooting, police said Ferrell, who had worked the day shift, fled in a car. A high-speed police chase followed before Ferrell crashed in a construction zone and was arrested.
Clinton County officials did not immediately respond Thursday to questions about when Ferrell might be charged and what his alleged motive might have been.
Kelly said Wednesday night that investigators did not yet know whether the women were targeted or victims of a random attack.
“We don’t know what the catalyst was to make this happen,” he said at a news conference. “It was shift change. There was a lot of other people in the area. Everybody’s crossing paths.”
The plant, which is near Frankfort, opened in June and employs about 700 people who design and make seating for automotive vehicles, according to its website.
News from © The Associated Press, 2021