
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 16, 1993                   TAG: 9312160144
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: AURORA, COLO.                                LENGTH: Medium

FIRED RESTAURANT WORKER HELD AFTER 4 SHOT TO DEATH

A shooting rampage at a family restaurant left four employees dead, and a fired kitchen worker was arrested. A fifth employee survived despite being shot in the jaw, and managed to alert police.

Nathan Dunlap, 19, was being held for investigation of four counts of first-degree murder in the slayings at the Chuck E Cheese restaurant in Aurora, a Denver suburb. The victims were shot in the head.

"It appears he may have held a grudge over his firing and went in and . . . shot the five employees," said Mike Stiers, chief of the Aurora Police Investigative Division. Authorities said Dunlap was fired about a week ago and recently got a job at a nearby fast-food restaurant.

The reason for Dunlap's dismissal wasn't known.

Investigators found a small-caliber semiautomatic handgun, but Stiers would not release other information about it.

Killed were night manager Margaret Kohlbert, 50; Colleen O'Connor, 17; Sylvia Crowell, 19; and Benjamin Grant, 17. Bobby Stevens, 20, was in fair condition at Denver General Hospital. He escaped from the restaurant and ran to nearby apartments to call police.

The gunman entered the restaurant just after closing Tuesday night, when employees were cleaning up. He confronted and shot two workers, shot a third one in a hallway, wounded Stevens in the kitchen and shot Kohlbert in her office in the rear.

Chuck E Cheese is a popular family eating place and entertainment center in the London Square shopping center that serves a neighborhood of single-family, upper-middle-class residences. The neighborhood has little crime.

"This is just a tragic, tragic example of what can happen if something is not done about the level of violence existing with these kids today," Stiers said.

Showbiz Pizza Time Inc., which owns Chuck E Cheese restaurants, said it would assist relatives of the victims and said the restaurant would close indefinitely.

Shannon McCurley, a 16-year-old restaurant employee, said Dunlap frequently came by the restaurant to say hello, but was bitter over the firing.

Julie Pedone, 15, another employee, said she stopped by to see her co-workers before going to a Christmas party. Hours later, she learned her friends were dead.

"I'm terrified. I'm afraid to even open my door now with what's going on around here. You can't even go outside to get the paper," Pedone said. "We were all like a big family here. I can't believe something like this would happen at Chuck E Cheese."

Nidal Allis, who worked at the restaurant but was off Tuesday, said: "This isn't something new. . . . It could happen to anybody, any place, even at a kids' restaurant."

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB