Suspended employee shoots three

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A woman who had just been suspended from her job and escorted from a Kraft Foods Inc. facility in Philadelphia returned with a handgun and opened fire, killing two people and critically injuring a third, police said.

The shooter was taken into custody inside the plant of the nation's largest food manufacturer, whose products include Oreo cookies, Philadelphia cream cheese and Oscar Mayer bacon, Lt. Frank Vanore said.

The woman had returned to the building in a car 10 minutes after being escorted out and passed through a barrier before re-entering the building, he said. Before being apprehended she fired a shot at police officers, he said.

Officers freed seven people who were "in a bad position" near the woman and were hiding, Vanore said, but he wouldn't refer to them as hostages.

Television footage showed workers leaving the Northfield, Illinois-based company's plant, which used to be known as the Nabisco factory.

Dough mixer Andy Ryan, who has worked at the plant for nearly 30 years, said he was on the third floor when the sound of the shots echoed through the building.

"I heard the gunfire, and I ran," he told The Associated Press, his apron still on. "As I was running down the steps they were yelling, 'Oh, my God, there's three people shot!"'

The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported that about 100 people were inside the plant but had been cleared out.

Several telephone calls and e-mails to Kraft on Thursday night weren't immediately returned.

- AP