MILWAUKEE- Employees at Molson Coors’ Milwaukee brewing facility will have the option to take the entire day off Friday on what will be the first anniversary of a mass shooting in which five employees were killed by a former co-worker.
Those employees are Jesus Valle Jr., 33, Gennady “Gene” Levshetz, 61, Trevor Wetselaar, 33, Dana Walk, 57, Dale Hudson, 60.
“It turned our whole world upside down and it was a difficult day for us,” Molson Coors public affairs director Tami Garrison tells WTMJ. “Through it all we’ve made sure we are providing the support and resources for employees and giving them what they need to grieve in a way that they feel significant and important.”
Police say 51 year old Anthony Ferrill opened fire on his former co-workers during the afternoon hours of February 26th, 2020. Police tell WTMJ the investigation into the shooting is now closed, though a motive remains unknown.
In addition to the optional day off, Garrison says the production lines will temporarily halt production at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon and each shift will begin with a moment of silence.
“I don’t think anybody would ever want to be a part of something like this because quite honestly it’s the unimaginable,” Garrison said. “If I were to try and find the positive in the fact that there are others that have happened across the country it’s that we are able to tap into the knowledge from those previous shootings.”
Garrison says those resources included the National Compassion Fund, which helped the company set up a survivors fund that disbursed nearly two-million dollars to the victims families, and families affected by the shooting.