One man is dead and one man critical after a 59-year-old employee of Chicago tech firm ArrowStream [4]shot the company's CEO and then turned the weapon on himself and committed suicide. Chicago Police stated that "he was despondent over the fact that he got demoted." The alleged shooter, Anthony DeFrances, CTO for the firm, had worked for the company since 2001. As Fox reports [5], the company’s CEO, Steven LaVoie, 54, of LaGrange, was in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, after being shot in the head and stomach.
A recently demoted executive entered a Loop office building in Chicago on Thursday morning and shot the company’s CEO before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide, authorities said.
The shooting happened just before 10 a.m. at the ArrowStream company on the 17th floor of the Bank of America building, 231 S. LaSalle St.
“Apparently he was despondent over the fact that he got demoted,” Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said.
The company’s CEO, Steven LaVoie, 54, of LaGrange, was in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, after being shot in the head and stomach, authorities said.
The alleged shooter was identified as Anthony DeFrances, a 59-year-old employee who had been told on Friday that he was being demoted as the company downsizes, police said. DeFrances had worked at the company since January 2001, according to his LinkedIn profile.
According to ArrowStream's website, Anthony DeFrances is the CTO of the company.
Tony DeFrances
Chief Technology Officer [7]
Tony DeFrances is the Chief Technology Officer for ArrowStream. With ArrowStream virtually since its inception, Tony leads all aspects of ArrowStream’s technology, including Development, Quality Assurance, Technical Support, Documentation, Systems and Network Infrastructure, and Data Management.
DeFrances brings more than 25 years of technology experience to ArrowStream. For the 10 years prior to joining the company, he founded and ran a successful software company that developed and sold communications, middleware, and sales force automation products and services to Fortune 500 companies in foodservice and other industries. Prior to starting his own company, DeFrances spent 15 years in technology consulting and software development.
DeFrances has a Master of Science in Experimental Psychology and a Masters of Computer Science from the University of Dayton.
Tony lives in the Chicago area with his wife Eileen and three children.
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Sadly, as small cap stocks come under pressure and the endless flow of hot money into tech startups slows (as it has done before), we fear this episode could well repeat all over the country.
