Immigration makes roadblock on Groveport shooting victim, suspect IDs: Police

GROVEPORT, Ohio (WCMH) -- Law enforcement officials said the victim and suspect in Monday's shooting at a Groveport warehouse were immigrants, and identifying them through fingerprint records was inconclusive.

"Our detectives are still working on that, they had Homeland Security come in today, since they are immigrants here, that's where the difficulty has been," Groveport police Lt. Josh Short said Tuesday. "According to Homeland Security, both individuals were here under 'non-lawful status' and any ID they provided to employers was most likely fraudulent."

Short said the two people involved were hired at the facility by a temp agency. He also confirmed that while they couldn't identify the suspect and victim, investigators determined that they were both from Haiti originally but may have moved to other countries prior to coming to the U.S.

Short said a positive identification of the two people could come as early as Wednesday.

According to police, a man entered the SK Food Group facility at around 5:30 a.m. Monday and shot a woman multiple times before leaving the facility. The suspect then climbed a utility pole nearby, was electrocuted, and died, police said.

Short said any other SK employees thought to be familiar with either the victim or the suspect have been reluctant to speak with detectives. Police are working to ID the people through other avenues.

Short said the facility's preparedness for such an event helped save hundreds of lives.

"Within the last two weeks, they had done some evacuation training, with each of their shifts, and that was very, very obvious in the way that they evacuated that building," he said. "It was very efficient, they had people out that were able to communicate with their employees and keep them in their safe areas, and we have no doubt, that that helped save some other people."

Police are investigating the shooting as a murder-suicide, but said it could have ended much worse.