OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  A man who gunned down a Southwest Airlines employee outside of Oklahoma City’s airport likely killed the victim in retaliation for circumstances that led to the attacker leaving his job with the airline last year, police said Wednesday.
Buie resigned from Southwest Airlines in April 2015. Balderrama said Winchester wasn’t Buie’s immediate supervisor, and though the circumstances surrounding Buie’s departure were not immediately available, he said investigators believe they were the reason behind the attack.
Police found Buie’s red pickup truck in the parking garage about three hours after the shooting. They used a robot to determine he was dead inside it before giving the all-clear.
Michael Winchester was a punter on the University of Oklahoma’s 1985 national championship team.
“Our hearts are truly heavy for the entire Winchester Family. Mike was a former Sooner student athlete as was his son James/daughter Carolyn,” the school’s athletic director, Joe Castiglione, tweeted Tuesday afternoon. He added “daughter Becca was also a student athlete. Please keep this beautiful family in your prayers” in a later tweet.
Associated Press writers Ken A. Miller and Tim Talley contributed to this report.