CHICAGO, Aug 27: A gunman described as a disgruntled employee of an auto parts supply warehouse shot six people to death on Wednesday before he was killed either by police or his own hand, authorities said.

Police tried to negotiate by telephone with the gunman but he “wanted no part of it” and police stormed the South Side facility, Windy City Core Supply Inc., where the shootings occurred, said police spokesman Pat Camden.

The gunman, whose name was not released, “is a disgruntled employee who either had been terminated or was going to be terminated,” Camden said.

A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner confirmed that seven people had died in the shootings.

It was not clear whether the gunman was killed by police or turned his weapon on himself.

Witnesses reported hearing at least two flurries of gunshots. Police deployed snipers on nearby rooftops and evacuated the surrounding area.

Last week in Ohio, an automotive supply plant worker killed one co-worker and wounded two others before killing himself.

Other workplace shootings in recent years include in November 1999, when a copier repairman in Honolulu shot to death seven people at a Xerox Corp. facility. In July of that year, a stock trader killed nine people at two Atlanta offices.

In February 2001, a former worker at a Chicago plant who was about to start a prison term returned to the plant and opened fire, killing four.—Reuters