A man who had been fired from a food processing plant in an Oklahoma City suburb beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday.
The 30-year-old man, who has not yet been charged, stabbed Colleen Hufford, 54, severing her head in Thursday’s attack at Vaughan Foods, Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said.
“Yes, she was beheaded,” Lewis told The Associated Press before a Friday news conference.
Lewis said the man then stabbed Traci Johnson, 43, a number of times before being shot by Mark Vaughan, a reserve sheriff’s deputy and the company’s chief operating officer.
While questioning the suspect’s co-workers, investigators learned he had recently started trying to convert several employees to Islam, Lewis said. Moore police have asked the FBI to aid in the investigation and look into the man’s background because of the nature of the attack, Lewis said. However, the attacker, has been identified as Alton Nolen who recently converted to Islam.
Johnson and the suspect were hospitalized and in stable condition Friday, Lewis said.
Lewis said he does not yet know what charges will be filed, adding that police are waiting until the man is conscious to arrest him.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections records show the suspect, whom The Associated Press is not naming because he has not been charged, has multiple, apparently religious tattoos, including one referencing Jesus and one in Arabic that means “peace be with you.”
Lewis said the suspect had been fired in a building that houses the company’s human resources office, then immediately drove to the entrance of the business. Lewis said he didn’t know why the man was fired.
“This was not going to stop if he didn’t stop it. It could have gotten a lot worse,” Lewis said.
A Vaughan spokeswoman said the company was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the attack.
The Islamic ritual slaughter of beheading has moved past Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Phillipines and into the streets of London and now the American workplace.
Qu’ran 47:4:
So when you clash with the unbelieving Infidels in battle (fighting Jihad in Allah’s Cause), smite their necks until you overpower them, killing and wounding many of them. At length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind them firmly, making (them) captives. Thereafter either generosity (free them) or ransom (them) until the war lays down its burdens. Thus are you commanded by Allah to continue carrying out Jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam.”
