FedEx is reportedly investigating a policy that prohibits workers from carrying their cell phones at work following a deadly mass shooting at one of the company’s Indianapolis facilities.
The shipping giant told Insider it was reevaluating the ban amid concerns that the policy would make it harder for warehouse workers to contact their families after a gunman killed eight people there on Thursday night.
The family members of the staff members were told to wait for information at a nearby Holiday Inn hotel, where some are struggling according to the policy to reach their loved ones. local media.
According to Indianapolis police officer Craig McCartt, some workers were not immediately able to contact their families when they left the warehouse to conduct interviews or to meet their families at the hotel.
“It was definitely a night of frustration and insecurity for those families,” said McCartt, the deputy chief of criminal investigations at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. told CNN early Friday. “I think the frustration was exacerbated by the fact that many employees did not have cell phones in the facility.”
At least one worker was reportedly texting her husband while the shooting unfolded.
“I communicated with her for a while and then it became quiet for a while, so I came here to see what was going on,” the man, Ian Johnston, said. said local journalist Courtney Crown near the scene of the shooting. “When I got here, she texted and she said, ‘I’m OK. ‘
According to the Indianapolis Star, FedEx did not immediately respond to The Post’s request to comment on the policy under investigation.
In a statement released Friday, the company in Tennessee said it was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the deaths of its warehouse workers.
“Our deepest sympathy is with all those affected by this senseless act of violence,” FedEx said. “The safety of our team members is our top priority, and we are fully cooperating with investigating authorities.”