Airline employee shot and killed at Oklahoma City airport

A Southwest Airlines employee at Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport was shot and killed Tuesday, and the suspect was found dead hours later, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

The victim has been identified as Michael Winchester, 52. Capt. Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City Police Department said the suspect, who was found in a truck inside a parking structure at the airport, has not been positively identified. The shots were fired near a parking lot, and while the shooting was not random, Balderrama said, it is too early to know the exact motive.

Winchester was a punter in the mid-1980s for the Oklahoma Sooners, and his son, James Winchester, is a special teams player for the Kansas City Chiefs, CNN reports. He was married with three daughters and his son. The airport was closed immediately after the shooting, and operations are now slowly resuming.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up