http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101202/NEWS010701/312020015/1055/NEWS/Supervisor-held-at-gunpointWEST CHESTER TWP. -- An equipment operator at an industrial cleaning business accused of holding his supervisor and a co-worker at gunpoint Wednesday was upset he did not get a raise he felt he deserved, according to West Chester police.
Derrick Bryant, 51, of Bond Hill, briefly confronted his boss in an office area at Superior Environmental Services, 9996 Joseph James Place, to complain about the lack of a raise, said Sgt. Matt Tombragel, police spokesman.
Bryant has been an equipment operator with the company for about five years and, until now, had a good work record, said Dean Wallace, company president.
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Bryant left the office, retrieved a low-power hunting rifle from his vehicle and returned to his boss’s office, holding him hostage for 20 minutes around 5:30 p.m., Tombragel said.
At one point, a co-worker of Bryant’s also was held at gunpoint inside the office.
Police credit that employee with defusing the situation by trying to calm Bryant down.
No gunshots were fired, and no one was injured.
Bryant left, fleeing in his vehicle. Employees called police.
“Due to the quick thinking and actions of the co-worker trying to act as a peacekeeper, he probably stopped something terrible from happening,” Tombragel said Thursday.
When police arrived at the business, they enlisted Cincinnati District 4 police to help by going to Bryant’s Bond Hill home.
When Cincinnati police arrived at his Franklin Avenue home, Bryant surrendered peacefully.
Bryant had a video arraignment from the jail in Butler County Area II Court in Hamilton on Thursday morning.
His bond was set at $62,000 on two counts of aggravated menacing and one count each of kidnapping and having a weapon under a disability, court officials said.
“There were not indications of any type of major issues in the past,” Wallace said Thursday.
Bryant has been fired, Wallace said.
The company employs 160. Only about 20 people were in the building when the incident occurred, Wallace said.
Topic: West Chester workers held at gunpoint (Read 399 times)