Memories of 1985 Pa. Factory Slayings Revived

Thirty-year-old crime scene photos cover the desktop of Pete Casini.

The former police chief, now mayor of South Connellsville, vividly recalls what he says was the worst day of his professional career - a quiet Saturday morning that was suddenly marred by violence when a man opened fire, killing four and injuring one, at Anchor Glass Container Corp. in South Connellsville.

For people who witnessed the carnage in South Connellsville in 1985, workplace shootings, like the one that happened at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., on Monday, immediately transports them back to that fateful day.

“When I see or hear about shootings like this, I immediately recall everything about that day,” said Casini. “It's impossible to forget when you see something like that.”

Mansel “Sonny” Hammett was considered a quiet, private, hardworking man prior the day he walked into the glassware production plant, where he worked as an hourly employee.

Casini's crime scene photos bear out the widely reported accounts of the event, that Hammett stalked and killed his supervisors, Donald Abbot, 48, Paul Gabelt, 52, John Coligan, 31, and Ralph Tomaro, 52, before fatally shooting himself.

“Coligan and Tomaro were having a cup of coffee at their desks when he came in the small office and shot them,” Casini said.

 Hammett, 39, was sent home from work on the morning of March 16, 1985, for breaking a company rule. Disgruntled by working conditions and pressure at the plant, he returned three hours later with a .38-caliber revolver and started shooting.

Prior to becoming mayor 24 years ago, Casini served as the police chief in South Connellsville for 15 years.

He arrived on the active shooter scene at Anchor in 1985 and lead the criminal investigation.

Casini recalls a bloody, injured victim at the entrance of the plant as he arrived on the scene.

“There was a man shot several times, and first-responders were helping him and the guard who had been beaten in the head by the gunman. I then heard someone say we have an employee in there with a gun shooting bosses.”

Casini, who wasn't on duty that morning, went to the plant unarmed because when the fire whistle blew, summoning emergency personnel to Anchor, he thought it was some sort of industrial mishap.

“I went into the factory without a weapon,” he said. “Everyone was frantic.”

Casini was immediately confronted with the brutal nature of the moment when he had to move a victim's body away from a door in order to enter. The chief searched the premises, cautiously aware of the carnage he would encounter.

“Hammett was still in there, and, while searching, myself and one of the firemen found his body,” Casini said.

Witnesses at that time said Hammett sought the supervisors. According to Casini, before returning to the plant, Hammett went to the cafeteria at Pechin Shopping Village and told people in line “he was going back to Anchor to kill bosses.”

Hammett shot and injured Richard Hosier as he was running through the plant. Hosier was shot in the back and face but survived.

Casini said the incident had a profound impact on him and he said he can't imagine how anyone could forget the details or images of an event of this nature.

“Without a doubt, it was the worst that I witnessed as chief,” Casini said. “That day was unbelievable.”

In 2013, workers who witness workplace violence are given grief counseling and taught the signs and symptoms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). In 1985, there were no such programs for the employees of Anchor Glass, Casini said.

“The plant was scrubbed, and the broken glass and bloody tiles were replaced. It was as though nothing happened by 10 o'clock the next morning,” said Casini.

Workers continued their duties in some parts of the plant before the bodies of the victims and shooter were removed, Casini said.

According to information reported in the Herald-Standard at that time, workers returned to work the following day at 3 p.m. for a regular shift.

The sad chapter in South Connellsville history is not forgotten, and Casini still reminds officers anything can happen anywhere.

He said Monday's shooting at the Navy Yard is one such reminder.

“Last week, we went over the photographs with officers to show them this can happen – boom - right now.''