A ‘disgruntled employee’ of a Chester linen company killed two coworkers and injured three others, police say

A gunman “took his anger out” on five of his former coworkers at an industrial laundry and linen company in the city of Chester on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding three others as workers at the business began their morning shifts, Delaware County officials said.

The shooting was reported at 8:30 a.m. at Delaware County Linen on West Fourth Street in the city’s West End, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said, describing what happened as a shooting by a disgruntled former employee.

“We’re here for an absolute tragedy,” Stollsteimer said. “This is a story that plays out too often in the United States of America.”

The three surviving victims were taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where two were listed in critical condition Wednesday.

The gunman, who went to the business armed with a handgun, was arrested not long after near the intersection of Kane and Culhane Streets in Chester, after being stopped by an officer from nearby Trainer, Stollsteimer said.

He declined to identify the alleged killer at a morning news conference and did not provide a specific motive for the shooting. Stollsteimer also did not identify the victims, pending notification of their families.

Chester Mayor Stefan Roots said that one of the victims shot Wednesday was a supervisor at the business, but that person’s condition was unclear.

Law enforcement sources and employees of the business confirmed that the gunman lived not far from where police took him into custody. He and his family had moved to the city from their native Puerto Rico in recent months.

An employee of Delaware County Linen who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety said Wednesday that the gunman was a recent hire, and had not been working at the business for long.

Murder charges will likely be filed against the suspect Thursday, along with related crimes, officials said, as prosecutors continue to investigate the shooting and attempt to locate victims’ families.

As many as 50 people were working Wednesday at Delaware County Linen, a family-owned business that has supplied towels and linens to hotels, restaurants and other clients in the region since 1988, employees said.

They described a working environment that lent itself to getting to know colleagues. In different sections, workers sorted, washed, and folded linens.

Older employees could become good friends with younger workers, they said, and most are Spanish speakers, with workers from Ecuador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

As for the alleged shooter, however, some employees struggled to remember personal details about him.

“I don’t know if he had friends,” an employee of two years said in Spanish, declining to give her name out concern for her safety.

Other employees also struggled to recall how long the shooting suspect had worked there or whether he had had any problems on the job.

In the aftermath of the shooting, pockets of laundromat employees huddled behind police tape, comforting each other and waiting to tell police what they had seen. One of them stood crying uncontrollably holding her newborn, whom a babysitter had dropped off.

“I’m telling you, it was insanity,” said the woman, who had worked there for a decade and asked not to be identified for safety reasons. “I’m telling you if I hadn’t run. … He was coming after everyone like crazy, I didn’t know where to go, but he went straight after two guys.”

Sandra Castro, 19, a recent hire, said employees in the business “were screaming, ‘He’s killing them! He’s killing them!’” as gunfire rang out and they all bolted for the door.

In those chaotic moments, Castro said, she feared for her life. But she also worried about her sister, Esthe, 25, who was working at another washing machine. The two had separated as they fled from the gunfire, but later reunited.

“I kept looking for her,” the older sister said, holding back tears. “I was just so happy when we found each other outside.”

Roots and members of the Chester City Council arrived at the scene shortly before 11 a.m. after canceling their twice-monthly meeting, pledging to support the victims and the surrounding community.

Roots said he was frustrated that Chester, which he called a “city challenged with violence,” was the scene of morning gunfire.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s tragic. It has to stop,” Roots said. “Chester never expected to be the epicenter of another episode of workplace violence. We’re a really tight-knit community, we all know each other, we’re family, and this is why it hurts for all of us.”

A White House staffer reached out by email to lend support, said Roots.

City Council members said the Chester Community Coalition was working to reach victims and anyone else who witnessed the shooting. Police chaplains were being deployed to help survivors in need of spiritual support.

For Roots, what happened was a stark reminder of the prevalence of guns in America.

“We don’t want to see this happen over and over and over again,” he said. “We have to get stronger with our gun legislation. We can’t have guns in the hands of the wrong people.”

Still, the shooting came at a time when Chester has been experiencing a dramatic drop in gun violence.

The city once had one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the nation, but shootings and homicides dropped dramatically after the city formed a partnership with the Delaware County Gun Violence Task Force. Shootings fell from 119 in 2020 to 53 in 2022, while homicides declined from 32 to 19, according to Deputy District Attorney Matt Krouse, who oversees the task force.

Staff writers Ryan Briggs and Rob Tornoe contributed to this article.