On Friday, April 24, 1987, Mozella Dansby, a bookkeeper at the Georgia Power Company, walked into her office, pulled out a gun, and shot and wounded two of her supervisors. And then the 31-year-old woman, wife and mother, pointed the gun to her own head and pulled the trigger. The newspapers reporting that she’d been distraught because once again she’d been passed over for a promotion on the job.
An acquaintance wrote about Mozella Dansby: “Almost a week elapsed between the time Mozella found out she’d been denied the promotion and the time she fired those shots.
Dansby said his wife was a quiet person who enjoyed her family, going to the movies and Dansby graduated from West Rome High School and had worked as a bank teller at Trust Company Bank. The family has lived in a small, quiet, middle-class neighborhood near the intersection of Bolton Road and Bankhead Highway. Neighbors described Mrs. Dansby as "a nice, respectable lady" and a "kind person." Gloria Stanford, the Dansbys' next-door neighbor, said she last saw Mrs.
Dansby when she came over to talk on Easter. "She seemed like she was happy," Mrs. Stanford said. 'How are you? How are you feeling She just seemed like herself. She kissed Dwight on the face, she kissed several times, then she left," he said.
Van Mol said the company had a $12,500 insurance policy on Mrs. Dansby that will be paid to the family. Family members said they hoped to start a trust fund for the children's education.
Police said Mrs. Dansby, a representative in the payroll -and accounting office employed at Georgia Power since 1979, then 'turned her pistol on English in a nearby office. CJ. "The way it looks, she just started shooting," said Atlanta police homicide Sgt. Mickey Lloyd. English, 58, of Tyrone, was in serious condition at Georgia Baptist -Medical Center late Friday with a wound to the chest. English had worked for the company since 1947. Phillips, 33, of McDonough, was released from Georgia Baptist after treatment for a bullet wound to his arm. Phillips has worked for Georgia Power since 1974, according to Van Mol, director of corporate communications. Lovett said Mrs. Dansby brought weapon, a revolver, into the building in her purse.
Georgia Power has a policy against employees carrying weapons into the building, but Van Mol said employees' purses and personal belongings were not checked by building guards, Lloyd said about 80, to 100 people work on the ninth floor, separated only by cubicles. About 30 employees were at work when the shots rang out, Lovett said. Crying and shaken Georgia Power employees assembled outside the building shortly after the incident, trying to get over what they had seen inside. "It sounded like I heard several bangs," said Janet Ainsworth. "I heard three shots.
In her suicide note, Mrs. Dansby complained that both she and a close friend had been treated unfairly by Georgia Power. Van Mol confirmed that the friend had been fired by the company recently.
"Our policy is to treat employees fairly both in the hiring and promotion process."
He said Mrs. Dansby, who was responsible for bookkeeping in her job, had received two promotions since she joined the company in 1979. He said she had made no formal complaints of racial discrimination with the company this week.
Van Mol said only Phillips, Mrs. Dansby's direct supervisor, could answer questions about the promotion process that led to the shooting.
"The day started out as usual," he said. "We did everything we usually do. We got the children up and ready. Then she left." Dansby, an insurance agent, said he and his wife have two small children, Tiffany Nichole, 5, and Dwight 2. Dansby's father, Charlie Dansby Jr.
Rickey Dansby, her brother-in-law, demanded the claims of racial discrimination be investigated. "The members of the Dansby family issue a challenge to the NAACP and the SCLC and other organizations to investigate this incident involving discrimination with the Georgia Power he said in a prepared statement.
The Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the SCLC, said, "We certainly plan to look into the situation." The civil rights organization, which has worked with Georgia Power in the past in developing fair employment practices, has received what Lowery described as an unusual number of complaints from black women who were fired by Georgia Power. "We are looking into it carefully," he said. "Mozella had been doing the job for the last three weeks and her supervisor told her personally that she would be responsible for training
28 окт 2023
