Fired Amazon worker in threat to kill managers
AN Amazon worker who was sacked from his job threatened to “petrol bomb the office, hunt down bosses and assassinate HR staff”, a court heard.
The threats made by Abduraham Omar were taken so seriously by the company that extra security staff were brought in and certain workers given designated parking spaces covered by CCTV.
Omar, who was fired by Amazon due to “issues with his behaviour”, sent off threatening emails in October last year.
In the emails, the 21-year-old, from Small Heath, Birmingham, said he would “hunt down” the managers and they would be “assassinated sooner or later”.
Threats were also sent to the recruitment agency who helped him get the job in the first place.
He informed the company “someone is going to lose their life” and “the whole car park will be smoking”, Birmingham Magistrates’ Court heard.
Despite this, he was handed a suspended prison sentence.
Omar’s, family were “struggling to put bread on the table” in October last year and he applied for jobs with several companies, but was rejected because of Amazon’s character reference. He had been employed by the company in 2020 via PNP Recruitment, but was dismissed in September that year due to “issues with his behaviour”.
The court heard he began sending the emails after approaching PNP to find out why he could not be rehired by Amazon.
Prosecutor Roz Butler said: “Following his frustration, he sent a number of messages to PNP with words to the effect that he would ‘get rid of the whole site, he will take the law into his own hands and petrol bomb all of the sites and assassinate the managers that fired him’.”
He also told Amazon that he would “hunt down the managers who fired him and the individual that blacklisted him and they would be assassinated sooner or later”.
Omar said that if the police became involved he would only “cause more harm” and would “end the life” of the person who had entered his employment record.
After the emails landed, Amazon took a number of precautions to ensure the safety of its workers, with guards deployed to the staff car park 24/7 and employees assigned designated parking spaces.
Those who had been specifically threatened by Omar were given allocated spaces monitored by CCTV cameras and others had to adjust their working patterns.
PNP Recruitment said the emails included threats that the “whole car park is going to be smoking” and “someone is going to lose their life”.
Omar pleaded guilty to two counts of sending emails conveying a threatening message between October 3 and 20 last year.
Defending, Ms Jan said Omar was a “keyboard warrior making empty threats”, who had been “ill-treated and bullied” at Amazon before he was sacked. She said: “He felt very aggrieved about being dismissed.”
Omar was handed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, as the court heard offences were “so serious a custodial sentence would be the only option”.