Deadly shooting at Ingalls Shipbuilding revives painful memories of 2005 attack
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Ingalls Shipbuilding site has experienced two workplace shootings since 2005.
- In 2005, Alexander Lett killed a supervisor and injured another after a denied transfer.
- Lett pleaded guilty to murder and assault and is serving a life sentence in prison.
The workplace shooting at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula on Friday is the second to occur at the site.
The first shooting happened on Feb. 21, 2005, when one supervisor was killed and another was seriously injured.
In that case, shipyard worker Alexander L. Lett, then 41, shot and killed Donald Ray “Bubba” Eddins, 53, of Theodore, Alabama, and critically injured another supervisor, Ben Gaffney, 53, of Gautier.
According to authorities, Lett committed the crimes after being denied a transfer at work.
Lett was in a meeting when he stood up, accused his bosses of prejudice, pulled a gun from behind his back, and shot Gaffney in the chest, face, and abdomen.
Eddins was not part of the meeting when Lett started shooting.
After Gaffney was shot in the office, authorities said Lett left the building and ran down a 25-foot flight of stairs as other employees fled.
On the stairs, Lett shot Eddins in the leg. Eddins fell but managed to get back up and keep running. Lett then shot Eddines in the back.
Eddins fell and Lett walked up to him, put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, a witness told police. The gun didn’t fire. Police said they didn’t know if the gun malfunctioned or Lett ran out of ammunition.
Testimony at trial revealed that Gaffney had called the early-morning meeting in the Quality Assurance Department to discuss Lett’s transfer request.
Gaffney had decided to deny the transfer and was meeting with Lett and two other supervisors at the time. He was not Lett’s immediate supervisor.
Gaffney told Lett he needed him to continue working on the ship he was assigned to.
Witnesses said Gaffney was talking in a “normal tone.”
Then, Lett stood and said, “You’re a bunch of prejudice mother f------. I can’t work for you anymore,” pulled out the gun and started firing.
Lett, now 61, pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault and is serving a life sentence..
The 2005 shooting was similar to the tragedy on Friday, when police say 27-year-old Tahj Johnson of Prichard, Alabama, was shot while he worked on a ship under construction. Police say the suspect in Friday’s shooting is Curtis Demetries James Jr., a 25-year-old Ingalls employee from Mobile. Authorities said the suspect and victim were friends, but a motive is unclear, Pascagoula police arrested.
Sun Herald Reporter Martha Sanchez contributed to this report.
