Ohio UPS employee killed while sitting in her vehicle on company property

On February 17, reports say a United Parcel Service (UPS) employee was shot and killed by an abusive ex-boyfriend as she sat in her personal vehicle on company property.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Columbus police say Danny Fabro, 54, drove to the Far West Side UPS distribution center where [Joyce] Fox, 50, works and shot her in the head in her vehicle in the employee parking lot. She was later pronounced dead Friday at Mount Carmel West hospital, according to authorities.

...

Police say that Fabro fled in his truck, with witnesses giving police a description of his silver Chevrolet pickup. He was spotted by police and then led them on a chase. Officers used stop sticks to eventually disable the pickup near the intersection of West Broad Street and North Wilson Road on the West Side.

At some point, Fabro shot himself in the head, police said.

Fabro survived his self-inflicted injuries, and has been charged with murder.

According to the Dispatch, the victim's father Charles Pepper had recently advised his daughter to purchase a gun for protection.

Pepper said his daughter had broken up with Fabro after some violent episodes, including a beating last month that put her in the hospital.

County court records show he had a 2006 conviction for attempted possession of drugs, and a 1992 conviction of carrying a concealed weapon without a license.

While Ohio's gun control laws did nothing to stop Danny Fabro from illegally bringing a gun to hunt down and kill Joyce Fox, it is entirely possible that UPS company policy helped make sure Fox was defenseless when he found her.

UPS has long been known for its vigorous enforcement of a no-guns policy that would have prevented Fox from having a gun that night, even had she taken her father's advice.

In April 2006, UPS employee Gary Plona was fired after UPS discovered that he had a handgun in his vehicle while at work. At the time he was fired, Plona said that he had the handgun, which was disassembled and unloaded, and locked in his car in a public-access parking lot used by both UPS employees like Plona and non-employees/customers of UPS. On the day of his termination, UPS announced that law enforcement would be conducting a routine search of all persons and property on UPS premises for contraband. When Plona informed law enforcement about the handgun locked in his car, and the handgun was then discovered, he was terminated.

Plona took his case to federal court, alleging wrongful discharge in violation of the public policy embodied in Article I, § 4 of the Ohio Constitution, which guarantees Ohio citizens the right to bear arms for their defense and security. In March 6, 2009, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Plona had failed to demonstrate that a clear public policy had been jeopardized by his discharge.

The court found that "although the Ohio Constitution provides a general right to bear arms, the state certainly does not have a “clear public policy” of allowing employees to possess firearms on the premises of their private employers."

Thanks to passage in December of Senate Bill (SB) 199, that will no longer be the case as of March 21.

According to SB 199:

Sec. 2923.1210. (A) A business entity, property owner, or public or private employer may not establish, maintain, or enforce a policy or rule that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting a person who has been issued a valid concealed handgun license from transporting or storing a firearm or ammunition when both of the following conditions are met:

(1) Each firearm and all of the ammunition remains inside the person's privately owned motor vehicle while the person is physically present inside the motor vehicle, or each firearm and all of the ammunition is locked within the trunk, glove box, or other enclosed compartment or container within or on the person's privately owned motor vehicle;

(2) The vehicle is in a location where it is otherwise permitted to be.

During debate on SB 199, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce (of which UPS is a member) adamantly insisted that their few thousand members have the right to dictate what private property employees may possess inside their private automobile. While they claimed private property rights, the policies by default prohibited lawful self-defense when employees were not on company property, not on company time, and not in a company vehicle. Thankfully the legislature sided with the individual, NOT big business or big money. (Remember that nugget come election time.)

Despite the efforts of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, as of March 21 UPS and all other Ohio businesses will no longer have the right to render employees like Joyce Fox defenseless.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.