Oklahoma airport shooting suspect was ex-Southwest worker: police

Nov 16 (Reuters) - A man accused of fatally shooting a Southwest Airlines worker before turning the gun on himself might have been retaliating after he resigned from the carrier last year, police said on Wednesday.

Lloyd Buie, 45, is accused of killing Michael Winchester, 52, while the victim walked from work to his vehicle in a parking lot at Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Winchester was the father of professional football player James Winchester, a long snapper for the Kansas City Chiefs.

"It is believed the crime was premeditated and that the suspect armed himself and went to the airport with intention of shooting someone," Oklahoma City Police Captain Paco Balderrama said at a news conference.

Buie, whom authorities found dead inside his truck in an airport parking garage with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, resigned from Southwest in April 2015, Balderrama said.

"While detectives do not know whether Winchester was the target, it is possible that the suspect acted in retaliation against the circumstances leading up to his resignation," Balderrama said.

Balderrama did not say what position Buie held with the airline company or why he resigned.

Southwest officials were not immediately available for comment.