News Workplace Violence
Brewery employees return to work after shooting

Molson Coors employees were returning to work Monday at the Milwaukee brewery where a worker last week fatally shot five co-workers and then himself.

Employees will find heightened security measures, including additional guards, both armed and unarmed, according to a company email. Bag checks will take place at Molson Coors campuses nationwide, including the complex in Milwaukee’s Miller Valley, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Counselling services will be available for employees.

“We recognize not everyone will feel ready to come back, and that’s absolutely fine,” the email said.

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Meanwhile, the newspaper reported a couple hundred people gathered outside Milwaukee City Hall on Sunday night for a vigil in honour of the victims. They include Jesus Valle Jr., 33, of Milwaukee; Gennady “Gene” Levshetz, 61, of Mequon; Trevor Wetselaar, 33, of Milwaukee; Dana Walk, 57, of Delafield; and Dale Hudson, 60, of Waukesha.

Union officials, politicians, clergy members and others spoke out against violence and hatred. Forward Latino President Daryl Morin said those in the crowd were not separated by political parties, the colour of their skin or where they lived.

“We come together as Milwaukeeans. We come together as Wisconsinites,” Morin said. “We will show the nation what it means to be Milwaukee Strong.”

The gunman, Anthony Ferrill, 51, took his own life last Wednesday at the brewery.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, whose congressional district includes the brewery complex, read the names of the victims, but not the shooter’s. She said she was friends with Levshetz for 25 years and attended his funeral service Sunday.

“I speak their names to remember them, to cherish them,” Moore said.

Pardeep Singh Kaleka, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, told the crowd: “I know that our faith feels like it’s being tested.”

Kaleka introduced the clergy members, including Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Sikh, Jewish and Hindu, who each said prayers.

Kaleka’s father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was among six people fatally shot at a Sikh temple shooting in suburban Oak Creek in 2012. The gunman killed himself.