Navistar Plant Reopens After Shooting Deaths

Navistar's International Truck and Engine Corp. plant in Melrose Park, Ill., scene of a workplace shooting Monday that left five dead, was closed after those shootings but reopened Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reported.

Employees were allowed to stay home, and a company spokesman said Navistar's main focus was providing counseling for workers and their families.

The plant, which makes medium-duty engines, is located about 15 miles from Navistar headquarters in downtown Chicago and employs about 1,400.

AP reported that authorities said the 66-year-old gunman – fired Navistar employee William D. Baker – shot four people to death Monday and wounded four, then turned the weapon on himself.

Police said he was to have begun a federal prison term Tuesday for helping to steal engines and parts from the plant. AP said the thefts took palce in 1993-94, and he was fired in 1994.

Navistar is the second-largest U.S. producer of heavy-duty trucks, which it sells under the International brand. It also makes mid-sized trucks, school buses and diesel engines, which it also sells to other truck makers.