Campus Shooting Suspect's Ex-Boss: 'Nothing Scared Him'

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A local man talks to NBC 4 about an Ohio State employee whom officials say opened fire after a poor performance review, killing one co-worker and injuring another before turning the firearm on himself early Tuesday.

Nathaniel Brown's former supervisor told NBC 4 in an exclusive interview Brown also threatened him.

Brown's almost-100-page-long OSU personnel file includes a list of former positions and employers.

One of those jobs was at the now-defunct Bobb Chevrolet at the corner of Parsons and East Livingston avenues. Brown, 51, worked as a custodian at Bobb Chevrolet from 1990 to 2004.

Brown's former supervisor, Tim Ryan, told NBC 4 Brown was a good worker but lacked social skills.

"He does not work well with others. We even went as far as to give him his own shift to keep him there when people weren't there so that he could have his job, and he did do a good job," Ryan said.

Ryan said Brown "went off the deep-end there toward the end. Just the smallest thing would disrupt his whole life. And to him, that one little thing -- somebody walked on my clean floor and got it dirty -- was the end of the world."

Ryan also said Brown's troubling behavior appeared to progress over the years.

"He definitely would go off in his moods, and you could just tell that something just wasn't right," Ryan said.

Ryan said Brown threatened him when he was fired.

"The actual threat to me came at the time of termination where he basically said, 'You know, everything comes around, and I'll get you back.' He didn't necessarily say. 'I'm going to shoot you,' but he wasn't afraid to come out and let you know that he wasn't afraid to die. Nothing scared him."

Eighty-one percent of the time, there are signs before someone turns violent at work, according to Workplace Violence Specialist Larry Barton.

Warning signs include being openly angry, throwing items, sending threatening e-mails, making threatening statements in blogs and crying, Barton said.

SUSPECT'S PERSONNEL FILE

Documents from Brown's personnel file showed that supervisors complained that Brown was tardy, slept on the job and had problems following instructions.

The university sent him a letter March 2, informing him that his employment was to end Saturday.

The file included handwritten notes about Brown's work at the university that paint a picture of a difficult employee who sometimes displayed bizarre and hostile behavior.

Specific notes in the file described an evening where supervisors checked up on Brown. When they found him, Brown apparently asked the managers what they were doing and appeared to threaten to pull a knife on them.

One witness said Brown started to approach them and they left on an elevator.

A co-worker said Brown, "tries to intimidate me because he thinks I've cost him his job."

The same co-worker also wrote, "Employees told me he was asking what kind of car I drive."

Another note in the file claims that a co-worker who trains all custodians said, "This is the first she can't train."

The files released by Ohio State University do not indicate whether Brown's references or former employers were called prior to his probationary employment. Click here to read Brown's full personnel file.

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