TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. (AP) — An actress who voiced a cartoon character created by a Pennsylvania grocery store employee who killed three co-workers said he revealed his plans to her in an email.
Laura Faverty told WILK radio (http://bit.ly/2rehev7 ) in an interview posted on its website Friday that 24-year-old Randy Stair sent her an email less than an hour before the killings early Thursday. Faverty, of Dallas, Texas, said she didn’t see the email until hours later because her phone wasn’t charged.
In the message, the man she knew by the pseudonym Andrew Blaze thanked her for her work and told her by the time she read the email he would be dead.
She said the email started like a suicide note but got darker as Stair outlined “the true purpose” of his videos, the last of which was a 42-minute animated film depicting a massacre at a high school.
“It really shocked me,” Faverty said. “I never would have suspected anything like this.”
She didn’t say what kind of details he gave her in the email. She learned of the killings from the news on TV.
Police say Stair brought two pistol-grip shotguns to work at the Weis Market in rural Tunkhannock, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest of New York City, blocked store exits and began shooting shortly before 1 a.m. A fourth co-worker eventually escaped unharmed and called police. Stair also killed himself.
A prosecutor called Stair’s actions a mental health situation that “utterly spiraled out of control.”
Faverty said she didn’t think Stair was capable of such carnage, and he always was polite and formal in their email interactions.
“It breaks my heart. I feel so bad for the families; I feel bad for everything,” she said. “He was just very selfish, bringing everyone into this. It’s really sick.”
She said Stair contacted her through her web page in September and had seen a demo reel of hers online. He told her he was working on “darker content,” but she said that isn’t uncommon with voice work and it didn’t raise any red flags.
“It was just another paid job for me,” she said.
She said he was pressuring her to finish up the most recent job by Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the community is mourning Stair’s three victims: Terry Sterling, 63, of South Montrose; Victoria Brong, 26, of Factoryville; and Brian Hayes, 47, of Springville.
Brong was a single mother of a 6-year-old boy, her landlord, Bonnie Burridge, told The Scranton Times Tribune.
“She was a model tenant and wonderful mother,” Burridge said.
Hayes’ one-time fiancee, Sandi Bales, described Hayes as an easygoing person with a great sense of humor. She told The Times he had a 7-year-old daughter, and the girl was looking forward to spending more time with him once school let out.
“I’m heartbroken,” she said.
Sterling’s niece, Ashley Smith, described Sterling as a kind-hearted man “who would do anything for anybody.”
“Growing up, he’d take me to the store to get candy and shoes, anything you wanted. He treated me like his own daughter,” Smith said.
About 300 co-workers, friends and family members turned out for a vigil for the victims at the Wyoming County Courthouse on Thursday night.
Sarah Davis, a friend of Brong’s, told the Citizen’s Voice newspaper she messaged Brong about an hour before the shooting.
“She said she had to work until 3 a.m. I asked her why she does that, and she replied ‘I like my job,'” Davis said.