Contract worker kills hostage, self at NASA centre

Armed with a snub-nosed revolver, Phillips also duct-taped a woman to a chair for hours before finally killing himself, police said. Fran Crenshaw, a contract worker with MRI Technologies, escaped with minor injuries.

Phillips apparently shot himself in the head as a Houston Police team made contact with him. The officers then burst into the building.

The shooter left telephone numbers and names of people to contact and wrote a note on a dry erase board in the room, police said. “I don’t recall what was on it,” Hurtt said.

The shootings took place on the second floor of Building 44, known as the Communications and Tracking Development Laboratory. About 50 employees work there handling spacecraft communication and tracking.

During the confrontation, NASA employees in the building were evacuated and others were ordered to remain in their offices for several hours. Access to the 1,600-acre campus is controlled, with workers required to show identification to guards at the facility gates.

Phillips, an employee of Jacobs Engineering of California, had worked for NASA for 12 to 13 years and “up until recently, he has been a good employee,” said Mike Coats, director of the Johnson Space Center. He was unmarried, had no children and apparently lived alone.

Beverly’s wife Linda said her husband had mentioned Phillips before, but she declined to say in what regard.