Mexico: 43 Students Still Missing After Shootings

Fears are growing for 43 students who vanished after shootings in Mexico that left six people dead and 25 wounded.

Some 57 students initially disappeared following a bout of violence in the town of Iguala in one of the country's poorest states last Friday and Saturday - but 14 have since turned up alive.

In one of the incidents, municipal police opened fire on three buses seized by the radical students, who are known to hijack buses, and had taken them to go home after a fundraising drive. Three students were killed.

State police officers armed with assault rifles guard Iguala's hospital

Survivors - some of whom are under armed guard in hospital - have claimed local police officers took away dozens of students in police cruisers and they have not been seen since, AFP reported.

Prosecutors said they were able to connect 22 officers who were detained to the six killings after ballistics tests linked their weapons to the shootings.

The officers are being investigated over the disappearances amid concerns the violence in one of Mexico's poorest states could be linked to organised crime, said state prosecutor Inaky Blanco. 

Student Andres Martinez recovers from his injuries in hospital

"Unfortunately most of Iguala's municipal police officers have links with organised crime," said Governor Angel Aguirre following reports unidentified masked gunmen were involved in some of the shootings.

He said street surveillance cameras captured officers taking away an unspecified number of students.

Francisco Ochoa, 18, told AFP he was among 14 students who managed to escape from a fourth bus stopped by police.

Troops check IDs against the list of those still missing

The group fled after the officers began to shoot in the air, he said. After hiding on the hills and other parts of town, they found other comrades in a marketplace.

"More patrol cars arrived from the right and the left, 12 to 13 of them," he said.

"I saw with my own eyes how they took away my comrades. I saw how they put 30-40 of them in patrol cars," he said at a wake attended by hundreds of people at the Raul Isidro teacher training school in Tixtla.

Students have held protests demanding justice over the deaths

Ramon Navarette, president of Guerrero's Human Rights Commission, raised hopes the 43 missing may still be alive, saying they could be hiding like the 14 students who reappeared.

"This tactic of dispersing to avoid harm or arrest is very frequent," he said.

Witnesses described a night of terror in Iguala.

Aureliano Garca Ceron, a 35-year-old taxi driver, had two passengers in his car in the early hours of Saturday when shots suddenly rang out.

"All I could see were the sparks of the guns," he said as he recovered from a broken leg shattered by a bullet.

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RAF Tornados Hit IS With Fresh Airstrikes

By Tom Parmenter, RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus

British jets have hit more Islamic State targets in Iraq as calls grow for further strikes against the group's Syrian strongholds.

The second round of airstrikes took place overnight west of Baghdad as RAF Tornado jets worked to support Iraqi Government forces below.

The Tornado crews identified a suspected Islamic state command and control position and fired four Brimstone missiles at two vehicles - one of which was an armed pick-up truck.

The Tornados landed safely at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus before dawn.

The latest airstrikes were carried out by RAF Tornados based in Cyprus

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Initial analysis indicates that the strikes were successful."

It is the second time RAF fighter jets have attacked IS positions, after a team took out a heavy weapon position and another armed truck on Tuesday.

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1. Gallery: The Moment RAF Jet Attacks IS Truck

   The RAF has carried out its first airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq. (All pictures: MoD)

2. Tornados destroyed a heavy weapon position, which was attacking Kurdish forces, and an armed pick-up truck (pictured). The red circle shows the path of the missile fired at the vehicle

3. The strikes were the first since MPs voted to support aerial raids in Iraq last Friday

4. The targets were in the northwest of Iraq

5. The moment the truck, which had a mounted machine gun, was destroyed by a Brimstone missile

6. A plume of smoke rose above the area

7. The strike was successful, according to an initial assessment, said Defence Secretary Michael Fallon

8. The Tornados safely returned to their base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus after the sortie

9. Six of the GR4 fighter jets are based on the island in the Mediterranean

10. The aircraft began their combat missions on Saturday

The MoD released footage of the aerial raids in support of Kurdish troops who were being attacked by IS insurgents in the northwest of the country.

The Brimstone missiles are often used to hit moving targets such as vehicles and cost around £105,000 each.

Five Brimstones have now been deployed so far, along with one Paveway bomb, which costs around £22,000.

Video: Tornado Returns From Strike Mission

Unlike the first strikes, the MoD said images of the latest attack would not immediately be released.

Security has been stepped up across Cyprus now British airstrikes have begun from RAF Akrotiri and security teams have been making checks outside the base itself.

The UK is supporting Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling Sunni Muslim extremists from IS, also known as ISIL and ISIS, which has taken over large parts of Iraq in recent months.

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1. Gallery: RAF Tornados Pictured In Mission Over Iraq

   RAF Tornado GR4s were pictured over Iraq as they began their armed combat mission in support of Operation Shader

2. The images were taken as the Tornados were being refuelled in mid-air by a RAF Voyager aircraft

3. The Ministry of Defence says the Tornados are now flying daily over northern Iraq

4. They are supporting the US military in its efforts to target Islamic State militants

5. The RAF carried out two sorties over Iraq on Saturday

6. In both missions the fighter bombers did not use their weapons

7. But the Ministry of Defence said "invaluable intelligence" had been gathered using the planes' surveillance equipment

8. Click on to see more photos of the Tornados in action...

Despite IS also seizing territory in Syria, a vote in Parliament last Friday did not include the authorisation of airstrikes over the country.

But speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference in Birmingham, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said Cabinet ministers believe strikes against Syrian targets will also be necessary.

"I believe ultimately that is exactly what we will have to do ... The Prime Minister believes that. He said as much in his speech," he said.

Video: IS Threat: Baghdad 'Crisis Point'

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Twelve More Bodies Found On Deadly Japan Volcano

The death toll from the Mount Ontake eruption in Japan has risen to 48, after a dozen more bodies were discovered on the summit.

At least 12 people, some buried in ash, were found in a state of cardiac arrest – but could not be confirmed dead until seen by a doctor.

Military helicopters have been bringing the bodies to the foot of the mountain, where anxious relatives of those still missing have been waiting for updates.

The recovery operation is far from over and a crisis management official has warned: "We believe there are more people still missing, but we don't know how many there are."

The rescue effort has turned into a recovery operation since Saturday

Police have received scores of reports about missing people since the surprise eruption on Saturday, with some estimates suggesting hundreds remain unaccounted for.

"We don't know if there are people buried deep down under accumulated ash," a spokesperson added.

Tuesday's rescue efforts were hampered by treacherous conditions on Mount Ontake, with poisonous gas and rising volcanic activity forcing the military to call off their search for the day.

Confirmation of the 12 new bodies makes the volcanic eruption Japan's deadliest since 1926.

Prior to the Mount Ontake explosion, there had been no fatalities from seismic activity since 1991, when 43 people were killed on Mount Unzen in south-west Japan.

With 48 people dead, it is Japan's deadliest volcanic eruption since 1926

Sayuri Ogawa, a mountain guide who survived the latest eruption, has described how rocks the sizes of a fridge were hurtling past as she sought refuge from the ash cloud.

"I couldn't breathe, and rocks kept falling down like rain," she said. "I thought I was going to die."

In recent days, footage has emerged of Japanese hikers desperately trying to outrun plumes of volcanic ash from Mount Ontake.

The group were filmed rushing to an emergency hut as rock and ash showered down on them – but as the billowing clouds edged closer, they were forced to protect their mouths and wait for visibility to return.

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Kurds Plead For Western Troops To Battle IS

'Nothing Token' About Britain's Iraq Mission

Updated: 10:31pm UK, Sunday 28 September 2014

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has rejected claims Britain's role in the fight against Islamic State (IS) is a "token" gesture, as he confirmed RAF Tornados are now flying daily over northern Iraq.

He told Sky's Murnaghan programme the United States welcomes the contribution of six aircraft to the mission.

Mr Fallon said: "There's nothing token about this. On the contrary, I spoke to the American Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel immediately after the vote and he welcomed the contribution that we're now able to make.

"They need our help, not simply with the Tornados, which are now flying daily from Cyprus, but also from the surveyance aircraft that we have overhead and very sophisticated surveyance and intelligence to add to the operations of Iraqi and Kurdish forces."

His comments come after Richard Williams, a former commanding officer of the SAS who served in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote in the Independent on Sunday the deployment of RAF bombers was a "military sugar rush" that "risks looking fearful and half-cocked".

Lieutenant Colonel Williams said the sending in of RAF bombers had "taken on a military and political significance out of all proportion to their real military value".

Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, a former head of the UK military who stepped down as chief of the defence staff last year, also told The Sunday Times that a campaign involving ground troops would be needed to crush IS.

The RAF carried out two sorties over Iraq on Saturday, followed by a third mission on Sunday, after Parliament cleared the way for airstrikes on IS militants in a vote on Friday.

The jets, which fly in pairs, returned to their base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at the end of their hours-long missions with their weapons payload intact.

Sky's Tom Parmenter, who is at the base, says that two Tornados flying on Sunday took off from the base at midday.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he also wants to make the case for targeting Syria.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, the Prime Minister revealed he would argue that targeting Syria is both legal and appropriate.

"There are complications but there aren't legal difficulties," he said.

Mr Cameron said he would respond to the challenge thrown down by Ed Miliband to seek a UN resolution supporting attacks in Syria, if only to show that his request is impossible.

"We have to demonstrate to people that we'd like a UN security council resolution but it's very difficult to get one and to demonstrate that what we propose is legal. Attempts have been made but there's the existence of a Russian veto."

Ministers had cautioned not to expect a campaign of "shock and awe" and that after weeks of US airstrikes in the area it could take time to identify new targets.

Mr Cameron insisted the involvement of RAF combat aircraft showed Britain was there to "play our part" in the international coalition being assembled against IS.

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Obama Admits US 'Underestimated' IS Threat

US intelligence agencies underestimated the threat posed by the Islamic State extremist group, Barack Obama has said.

The President also said that, conversely, the US overestimated the ability of the Iraqi army to fight the militants.

Speaking on a 60 Minutes interview on CBS, he said that militants took advantage of the "chaos of the Syrian civil war".

"And so this became ground zero for jihadists around the world."

The US Central Command released footage of airstrikes near Irbil in Iraq

Asked if the rapid rise of the group came as a surprise, Mr Obama responded: "I think, our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria."

The President last week expanded US-led airstrikes, which began in Iraq in August, to Syria and he has been seeking to build a wider coalition effort to weaken IS.

The group has killed thousands and beheaded at least two US journalists and a Briton while seizing parts of Syria and northwestern Iraq.

Mr Obama outlined the military goal against IS, which is also known as ISIL or ISIS.

"We just have to push them back, and shrink their space, and go after their command and control, and their capacity, and their weapons, and their fuelling, and cut off their financing, and work to eliminate the flow of foreign fighters."

Mr Obama (R) with the new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi at the UN

Mr Obama said the chances of success are greater in Iraq than they are in Syria.

"I think that right now, we've got a campaign plan that has a strong chance for success in Iraq. I think Syria is a more challenging situation," he said.

In Syria, the US also faces the risk of inadvertently helping Bashar al Assad as it battles IS.

"I recognise the contradiction in a contradictory land and a contradictory circumstance," Mr Obama said.

"We are not going to stabilise Syria under the rule of Assad," whose government has committed "terrible atrocities", he said.

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IS Fighters Smuggled Into Syria For Just £15

By Sherine Tadros, Middle East Correspondent

For tens of thousands of Syrians, the Kilis border crossing is the official way in and out of Turkey from Syria.

But if you're an Islamic State fighter, Kilis is not an option.

Abu Mustafa (not his real name) is a Syrian people smuggler. He says he's helped hundreds of IS fighters get into Syria.

He's also brought militants - some of them injured - back out.

He took us to the spot where the smuggling happens several times a day, he says, and it didn't take long to see it in action.  

We waited on the side of the road barely 10 minutes before we saw a white car speed across the open field towards the border.

The Kilis border crossing is the official way into Syria from Turkey

The car stopped halfway there and six men got out each holding a big bag. The car sped off and the men headed towards the fence.

We couldn't tell if they were fighters or Syrians without passports, but they were illegally crossing into Syria.

Moments later, more people appeared at the border. It looked like a family including a woman and child.

This time the military police saw them and chased one man, possibly the smuggler, along the fence. 

And the reward for taking such a risk? Abu Mustafa charges just £15 per fighter.

He said: "Last time they caught three people there were seven in total trying to get across among them Turks and Arabs.

A people smuggler talks to Sky's Sherine Tadros

"But the three that got caught were foreigners. They spoke English and the police took them away.

"They often cross with their families - their wives and children. They tell us we're coming to fight with Islamic State and live there.

"Some of them don't even know where exactly they're going, they just say, we are going to the Islamic State."

It's a common story. Abu Ahmed fought with IS for 10 months in northwestern Syria.

We met him in Turkey where he agreed to speak with us as long as we covered his face and changed his name.

He joined IS at the start because they were the most effective force fighting Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

But when they turned against the Free Syrian Army (FSA) he left the group.

He explained why so many foreign fighters join the group.

"They go to Syria to be martyred, they say their former lives are over and there is no going back. Most of them rip up and throw away their passports when they arrive."

Abu Ahmed also thinks US-led airstrikes against IS are backfiring, bringing extremist groups closer together.

"After the recent strikes, more fighters are joining IS - like the Nusra Front. I know some of them who have joined," he said.

Abu Ahmed doesn't have much hope for Syria's future, or his own.

He thinks the situation is out of hand and too many players have a vested interest in keeping the war going.

"What will happen next?" he said. "Only God knows."

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Jordanians Fear IS Backlash After Airstrikes

By Tom Rayner, Middle East Reporter, in Amman

Jordan's involvement in the US-led airstrikes against Islamic State targets has led to growing concerns in the country of a potential backlash.

Reports of IS banners in areas like the eastern city of Ma'an have fuelled fears of destabilisation by a force wreaking havoc in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

The installation of a public siren system in parts of capital Amman, days after Jordan confirmed it had carried out strikes, sparked panic on social media.

Fears the alert system was an indicator of an imminent retaliation forced authorities to reassure the public the installations were part of a long-planned programme.

Authorities say installation of new sirens are no cause for panic

Brigadier General Fareed Shariah of the Jordanian Civil Defence Authority said the sirens were part of a "comprehensive system for exceptional situations".

"We can use it to deliver all kinds of audio messages, to warn people of snow, floods or even terrorist attacks - any incident that could harm the Jordanian people," Mr Shariah said.

Information Minister Mohammed Momani also took to state television to dismiss rumours that US and French citizens were warned to avoid malls in the capital.

He said the revised travel advice notices simply called for "heightened vigilance".

Amman's tolerant atmosphere is a contrast to some areas of Jordan where more conservative attitudes prevail.

Asile Moussa says she believes airstrikes are the 'right thing to do'

The fact that it has been the target of terrorist attacks in the past, means some residents are wary it could be targeted once again.

Murad Faouri, a doctor in the city, said he believed Jordan's involvement in airstrikes made it an "obvious" focus for a potential backlash.

"We are more exposed now, to more attacks, because we just tried to attack Da'ash [Islamic State], so it's obvious they will now just be thinking how they can hit us back," he said.

However, Asile Moussa, an architecture student, said she backed her government.

"It's a good thing. After all, we're fighting terrorism, around the globe. It's attacking us now, it's near to our borders, so therefore I believe it's the right thing to do," she said.

Freed radical preacher Abu Qatada may influence opinions in Jordan

But it is not just the chaos in neighbouring Iraq and Syria that threatens the country's long-term stability.

Jordan's domestic Salafist Muslim community could also play a role in destabilisation, through its sympathies with jihadist movements.

The recent release from Jordanian prisons of radical preachers Abu Qatada and Abu Mohammed al Maqdisi may come to have a significant bearing on events.

Both have issued condemnations of IS which could stunt growth of support for the group.

But they also bitterly condemn the US-led coalition of which Jordan is a part, and support the al Qaeda-affiliated rebel group Jahbat al Nusra, fighting in Syria.

If they choose to voice their opposition to the airstrikes, more loudly than their opposition to Islamic State, their influence could yet disrupt the balance in Jordan.

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Abu Qatada Says He's Forgotten About Britain

Timeline: Qatada Legal Battle

Updated: 10:35am UK, Wednesday 24 September 2014

Abu Qatada challenged and ultimately thwarted every attempt by the Government to detain and deport him for many years.

Here is a timeline of the legal battle.

1993: Abu Qatada claims asylum when he arrives in Britain on a forged passport.

1994: Allowed to stay in Britain.

1995: Issues a "fatwa" justifying the killing of converts from Islam, their wives and children in Algeria.

1998: Applies for indefinite leave to remain in Britain.

1999: April - Convicted in his absence on terror charges in Jordan and sentenced to life imprisonment.

October - Speaks in London advocating the killing of Jews and praising attacks on Americans.

2001: February - Arrested by anti-terror police over involvement in a plot to bomb Strasbourg Christmas market. Officers find him with £170,000 in cash, including £805 in an envelope marked "For the mujahedin in Chechnya".

December - Becomes one of Britain's most wanted men after going on the run from his home in west London.

2002: Arrested by police in a council house in south London and detained in Belmarsh high-security jail.

2005: Freed on conditional bail and placed on a control order but arrested again in August under immigration rules as the Government seeks to deport him to Jordan.

2008: April: Court of Appeal rules deportation would breach his human rights because evidence used against him in Jordan might have been obtained through torture.

May - Granted bail by the immigration tribunal but told he must stay inside for 22 hours a day.

June - Released from Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire and moves into a four-bedroom house in west London.

November - He is rearrested after the Home Office tells an immigration hearing of fears he plans to abscond.

December - Qatada's bail is revoked by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) after hearing secret evidence that the risk of him absconding has increased.

2009: Five Law Lords unanimously back the Government's policy of removing terror suspects from Britain on the basis of assurances from foreign governments and it is ruled he can be deported to Jordan to face a retrial on the terror charges.

He is awarded 2,800 euro (£2,500) compensation by the European Court of Human Rights after the judges rule that his detention without trial in the UK under anti-terrorism powers breached his human rights.

2012: January - European judges rule he can be sent to Jordan with diplomatic assurances but not while "there remains a real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him".

February - He is released on strict bail conditions.

April - Rearrested as the Government prepares to deport him after Jordan gives assurances it will "bend over backwards" to ensure he receives a fair trial.

March - Qatada's legal team loses its bid to have the case heard by the Europe's human rights judges, clearing the way for deportation proceedings to continue.

May and August - Siac rejects Qatada's applications for bail.

October - Siac holds appeal hearing.

November - His appeal is granted and he is granted bail.

December - Qatada is moved to a larger residence in the greater London area.

2013: March 9 - It emerges Qatada has been arrested for allegedly breaching his bail conditions. He is ordered to stay in custody and sent to Belmarsh.

March 21 - Police reveal the cleric is being investigated over extremist material.

March 27 - Home Secretary Theresa May loses her appeal over Siac's decision to allow Qatada to stay in the UK. The Home Office vows to appeal.

April 17 - The Home Office formally announces that it is seeking leave from the Court of Appeal to take the case to the Supreme Court.

April 22 - The Court of Appeal refuses permission to go to the Supreme Court, forcing the Home Office to appeal directly to the highest court in the land.

April 23 - Theresa May tells MPs she has signed a new treaty with Jordan that should pave the way to deportation, but warns it might take "many months".

May 10 - Qatada's barrister says he will go back to Jordan voluntarily if the treaty on the use of evidence obtained by torture, guaranteeing he will not be tortured, is ratified by the Jordanian parliament.

May 20 - Qatada is refused bail by the Special Immigrations Appeals Commission after "jihadist material" is found on a computer memory stick.

July 2 - The new treaty between Jordan and Britain is fully ratified, sparking claims Qatada could be on a plane within days.

July 3 - A Jordanian government official tells AFP the cleric is due back on Sunday.

July 7 - Flown from RAF Northolt to Jordan

December 10: Pleads not guilty to terrorism charges at a state security court in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

2014: June 26 - Acquitted of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism over 1998 bomb plots allegations.

September 24 - Acquitted over plot to target Western tourists over the New Year in Jordan in 2000.

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'Nothing Token' About Britain's Iraq Mission

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has rejected claims Britain's role in the fight against Islamic State (IS) is a "token" gesture, as he confirmed RAF Tornados are now flying daily over northern Iraq.

He told Sky's Murnaghan programme the United States welcomes the contribution of six aircraft to the mission.

Mr Fallon said: "There's nothing token about this. On the contrary, I spoke to the American Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel immediately after the vote and he welcomed the contribution that we're now able to make.

"They need our help, not simply with the Tornados, which are now flying daily from Cyprus, but also from the surveyance aircraft that we have overhead and very sophisticated surveyance and intelligence to add to the operations of Iraqi and Kurdish forces."

His comments come after Richard Williams, a former commanding officer of the SAS who served in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote in the Independent on Sunday the deployment of RAF bombers was a "military sugar rush" that "risks looking fearful and half-cocked".

Lieutenant Colonel Williams said the sending in of RAF bombers had "taken on a military and political significance out of all proportion to their real military value".

Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, a former head of the UK military who stepped down as chief of the defence staff last year, also told The Sunday Times that a campaign involving ground troops would be needed to crush IS.

The RAF carried out two sorties over Iraq on Saturday after Parliament cleared the way for airstrikes on IS militants in a vote on Friday.

In both missions the Tornado GR4 fighter bombers did not use their weapons, although the Ministry of Defence said "invaluable intelligence" had been gathered using the planes' surveillance equipment.

An RAF Tornado takes off from the Akrotiri base on Sunday

The jets, which fly in pairs, returned to their base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at the end of their hours-long missions with their weapons payload intact.

Sky's Tom Parmenter, who is at the base, says that two Tornados took off on another mission just after midday on Sunday.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he also wants to make the case for targeting Syria.

RAF crew at the base on Saturday morning. Pic: MoD

In an interview with the Sunday Times, the Prime Minister revealed he would argue that targeting Syria is both legal and appropriate.

"There are complications but there aren't legal difficulties," he said.

Mr Cameron said he would respond to the challenge thrown down by Ed Miliband to seek a UN resolution supporting attacks in Syria, if only to show that his request is impossible.

A member of the aircrew prepares to depart on the first mission. Pic: MoD

"We have to demonstrate to people that we'd like a UN security council resolution but it's very difficult to get one and to demonstrate that what we propose is legal. Attempts have been made but there's the existence of a Russian veto."

Ministers had cautioned not to expect a campaign of "shock and awe" and that after weeks of US airstrikes in the area it could take time to identify new targets.

Mr Cameron insisted the involvement of RAF combat aircraft showed Britain was there to "play our part" in the international coalition being assembled against IS.

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Oklahoma Beheading: Fired Man's Knife Rampage

A man who had just been sacked at an Oklahoma food plant decapitated one female worker and stabbed another before he was shot and wounded by the boss.

Police said Alton Nolen, 30, was "angry" after losing his job when he launched into a knife rampage at Vaughan Foods in Moore on Thursday afternoon.

Mark Vaughn, chief operating officer of the business and also a reserve police officer, is being hailed as a hero after he shot Nolen while the suspect was stabbing a second woman.

The scene outside the plant in the aftermath of the attack

Authorities say it appears Nolen targeted the workers at random.

The attack began at about 4pm when he went to the car park and drove his vehicle to the front of the warehouse where he hit another car. 

Nolen then walked through the main entrance and began his rampage.

Police spokesman Jeremy Lewis told a press conference that Nolen's colleagues had said "he recently started trying to convert several employees to the Muslim religion".

However, it is not clear if his beliefs had any link to the attack. The FBI is also investigating the incident.

The first victim has been identified as 54-year-old Colleen Hufford.

Mr Lewis told Friday morning's press conference: "He did kill Colleen and he did sever her head."

Nolen and the second victim, 43-year-old Traci Johnson, are both in a stable condition in hospital, said police.

Mr Lewis praised Mr Vaughn's swift action.

"It could have gotten a lot worse," he said. "This guy (Nolen) was definitely not going to stop."

There were said to be several hundred employees inside the warehouse at the time of the attack.

According to the state department of corrections, Nolen was convicted in 2011 of marijuana possession, intent to distribute cocaine, escape from detention and assault on a police officer.

Vaughan Foods spokeswoman Danielle Katcher said everyone at the company was "shocked and deeply saddened" by Thursday's attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the team member we lost and all those affected," said her statement.

Employees would be offered counselling, she added.

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