In the early hours of a Tuesday morning in Albertville, Alabama, the industrial hum of the Mueller Co. plant was shattered by the sound of gunfire. On June 15, 2021, a workplace shooting tragically cut short the life of David Lee Horton, a 44-year-old man. The incident, which unfolded around 2:30 a.m., also claimed the life of another employee, Michael Lee Dobbins, and left two others wounded.
The gunman, identified as 34-year-old Andreas Deon Horton, a fellow employee at the plant,
opened fire on his colleagues for reasons that remain unclear to investigators. Authorities reported that the attack appeared to be entirely unprovoked. Following the shooting, Andreas fled the scene in a vehicle, sparking a manhunt.
A few hours later, law enforcement located the suspect's vehicle in Guntersville, approximately 15 miles away from the Mueller Co. facility. Inside, they discovered Andreas Deon Horton, who had died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officials confirmed that despite sharing the same last name, there was no known familial relationship between the shooter and David Lee Horton.
The violent and sudden nature of the event left the community in shock and mourning the loss of two of its members. Friends and colleagues remembered David Lee Horton as a kind individual, making the senseless act of violence all the more difficult to comprehend. The investigation into the motive behind the tragic shooting continued in the days that followed, as a community tried to heal from the devastating incident.
