‘He looked like he was heading into war’

But those familiar sounds weren’t familiar at all. A young FedEx worker – just 19, from a well-liked family in Acworth — was shooting his coworkers with a shotgun. He wounded a security guard grievously and shot five other coworkers. When the spree was done, Geddy Kramer put his shotgun to his head and fired a final shot.

Liza Aiken knew Kramer, although only as Geddy, because the two of them had worked in proximity in the warehouse. Tuesday morning, as Aiken was correcting addresses at her workstation, she heard a clinking noise — the sound of a knife Kramer had just dropped. She looked up and came face to face with a stranger in black.

“He had bullets strapped to his chest like Rambo,” Aiken said. “I mean he looked like he was heading into war. As soon as I saw him, I ran the other way. I ran and made sure that people upstairs were gone.”

A phalanx of police rushed to the scene after the initial call at 5:54 a.m. and then went to the Kramer family home, at first worried for the family’s safety. Later authorities investigated why the young man apparently left Molotov cocktails at his workplace. They spent much of the day combing through the warehouse to make sure no other devices were left.

Searching the building with dog and bomb teams was daunting, said Cobb County police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce, who said FBI officials are leading that part of the investigation. The massive facility has “a lot of nooks and crannies inside, a lot of conveyor belts. We need to sweep, re-sweep and sweep again to make sure the facility is safe.”

Pierce said authorities “have an idea” of the motive, although he would not release it. He said investigators are talking with people who knew the man. The body had not been officially identified and remained in the facility many hours after the shootings Tuesday.

Authorities said the gunman first approached the guard shack and fired a shotgun blast into the security guard. Police released none of the victims’ names, but the guard was identified as Christopher Sparkman by a man who said he was his brother, according to Channel 2 Action News.

Two victims, a 28-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman, underwent surgery at WellStar Kennestone Hospital, both with what appeared to be close-range shotgun wounds, emergency room Dr. Michael Nitzken told reporters.

“There’s quite a bit of work left for them,” Nitzken said. He said hospital officials were alerted at 6:26 a.m. of the shootings, leading to “organized chaos” at the trauma center. Fortunately, the call came during a shift change, meaning the trauma center had “double the staff.”

Sparkman remained in critical condition later Tuesday, and the 52-year-old woman was listed as stable. Two men, aged 19 and 22, were admitted in stable condition; two others, a 42-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man, were treated and released.

‘It was like he just came out of a movie’

The day starts at about 4 a.m. for many of the workers in the plant, several of whom had lately been worrying about tornado watches.

Liza Aiken was putting address corrections on packages when she heard the “clink.”

“I saw him standing there and the knife was on the ground. He dropped his knife,” she said. But he was holding a shotgun and shells in a bandolier on his chest.

“I just saw a black gun,” she said. “It was like he just came out of a movie.”

Aiken said she previously reported Kramer, who she described as a competent worker, to her superiors because he kept pointing a laser bar-code scanner at her eyes. She explained that workers often goof around to make the day go by faster.

“I asked him several times to stop, I told him I’d tell management,” she said. “I don’t know what set him off. I don’t know if that did.” She paused. “No, it couldn’t have. I saw him the next day and he was fine.”

Collin Harrison, a package handler who has worked at the plant nearly three years, was loading a truck when he heard a male scream. “That caught my attention,” he said. “Then I heard a female scream real loud.”

He said he heard a voice on a manager’s radio saying that everyone needed to get out of the building. He began walking out when he saw the co-worker he only knew as Geddy.

“He’s in a black skullcap, black vest, black fatigues and he was aiming down his (gun)sight at the side of the building where they unload packages,” said Harrison, who estimated his was less than 30 feet away.

His first thought?

“Man, I had two words in my head: Get out!” he said. “And I got out. I never ran so fast.”

He said that “Geddy” hadn’t shown up that day. Harrison was thinking he might have quit because he had asked to take off the previous Saturday but got turned down by a manager. Geddy didn’t show for work on Saturday. In fact, the next time his coworkers saw him, Kramer was carrying a gun.

Kramer’s father: ‘We make no excuses’

Word spread quickly today to other employees. Michael Hogland, a ground driver at the FedEx facility at McCollum Field, said, his boss called minutes after the event telling him of the terrifying events and adding, “Don’t worry about getting here on time.”

Police escorted a bus filled with FedEx employees from the shipping plant to a nearby skating rink, where they were taken after being questioned to meet with families and loved ones and to arrange rides home.

FedEx’s global citizenship report says: “Unauthorized firearms or weapons are strictly prohibited on company-leased or -owned property and in buildings, aircraft or vehicles. Possession of firearms or weapons on company property may be grounds for immediate dismissal.”

It also says FedEx employees are responsible for reporting “potential or actual situations of workplace violence” through a web-based reporting system, by contacting management, security or human resources, or by calling a FedEx alert line.

AJC photos of cops converging on the scene showed a sign outside the facility with a pistol with a cross on it.

Patrick Parsons, executive director of Georgia Gun Owners, noted that in an email to the newspaper.

The horror of the day was left sinking in on Scott Kramer, father of Geddy Kramer.

“We’re dealing with a lot here right now,” Kramer told a reporter, standing at the front door of his Acworth home. We’re dealing with our own loss and wishing the best to everyone who was affected.”

Later, in a statement, he added: “Our thoughts are also with all the workers at FedEx who were affected by Geddy’s actions. We make no excuses for his actions and are shocked and devastated by them. There really are no adequate words at a time like this. Our family would appreciate our privacy at this very difficult time.”

Kramer graduated from North Cobb High School in 2013. One of his victims, Chris Sparkman, was also a North Cobb grad.

A neighbor named Sandy, who asked that her last name not be used, was still in shock over the events of the day. The woman said a neighbor called her before 9 a.m. Tuesday , telling her to look out her window. She saw several SWAT-type vehicles roll up on the family’s home.

She said the Kramers are a pleasant, nice family. Geddy often walked the dogs and mowed the lawn, she said, and the father is involved in the homeowners association.

“My heart just sunk to my toes,” the woman said. “I love those people.”