The facts are not in dispute. A stressed-out government manager is told he is about to be fired. He storms out, returning half an hour later with a hidden handgun. In two minutes, it is all over, and three people lie dead on the floor of the Environment Ministry building in Kamloops.
The outburst last October by pollution-prevention manager Richard Anderson, 55, took the lives of supervisor Jim McCracken and union shop steward David Mardon, before Mr. Anderson turned the gun on himself.
Exactly why Mr. Anderson "went postal" remains unclear.
Although his abrupt dismissal almost certainly caused the shootings, many people are fired and incidents such as the Kamloops tragedy are rare.
An inquest starting Tuesday in the central B.C. city is expected to shed much more light on Mr. Anderson's character and state of mind. It will also consider whether the killings could have been prevented, and what should be done to guard against a similar event.
An internal government report into the triple shootings paints a picture of a poisoned work environment under Mr. Anderson's management; he is said to have made general comments about reacting violently if he were ever fired.
Yet, according to the report, employee complaints were not taken seriously; there was no regular performance review of Mr. Anderson that might have led him to suspect his job was in jeopardy; there was no mechanism in place to deal with statements about the potential for personal violence.
Details of the report were disclosed by the Vancouver Province newspaper on the eve of the scheduled inquest by B.C.'s deputy chief coroner, Norm Leibel.
"There was no discussion with staff, peer mangers or former supervisors regarding Mr. Anderson's behaviour and potential for violence," the report says.
George Heyman, president of the B.C. Government Employees Union, said he is disturbed by the findings.
"If the report is accurate and the ministry had no procedures in place concerning the threat of violence in the workplace, then I think that is a very, very serious oversight," he said.
"If employee comments about this particular manager were simply swept aside or overlooked, that is just not appropriate," said Mr. Heyman, who emphasized he did not want to prejudge the inquest's findings and recommendations.
On morning of the day in question, Mr. Anderson drove to Penticton to deliver layoff notices, part of widespread government cutbacks in the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection.
According to sources close to the event, he then returned to Kamloops for a meeting he thought would concern ridding his own office of employees he considered troublesome. Instead, Mr. McCracken told Mr. Anderson that a consultant had recommended that he be fired.
Mr. Anderson stalked out the building's back door, office keys still in hand, and drove off in his government car. The keys allowed him to re-enter the building through the back door, where he confronted Mr. McCracken and Mr. Mardon, the shop steward.
Shots were fired, starting a mad scramble for the exits by other workers, resulting in four injuries.
"It was an extremely traumatic event for our members," Mr. Heyman said. "I can't imagine the trauma dissipating very quickly, and now that the inquest is beginning, the horrific memories will be very much alive for them."