Driver wasn’t hired by firm
Rob Granatstein
Toronto Sun
Employees at the close- knit office of Liquiterminols in Mississauga are devastated after three of them were shot, allegedly by a man who has nothing to do with the company since August.
“It’s senseless,” says Barb Ward, the company’s office manager. “He’s not an employee, we didn’t hire him, we didn’t pay him.”
“We haven’t seen or heard from him since August,” Ward said.
Jean Delagrave, 49, a potbellied truck driver, allegedly walked into the company’s office on Friday and killed general manager Michael O’Rourke. Two other employees were wounded.
Liquiterminals qualified Delgrave, and he hauled material out of the company’s yard for about a year, but he was not a disgruntled employee, Ward said yesterday.
“We’ll all have to pull together and keep the wheels turning,” said Ward, one of 10 employees in the office, which has 50 owner- operated trucks in its fleet. “We have to do it for Mike.”
In Brampton court yesterday, tears welled up in Delgrave’s eyes as the charges against the single Ottawa resident were read; first- degree murder and two counts of attempted murder using a firearm.
Delgrave, 49, said one word, in French, during his court appearance, saying he understood the charges. He asked through his lawyer, Gary Batasar, to be kept in solitary confinement.