2 dead in JSC hostage standoff

NASA security got a call at 1:40 p.m. about a man with a weapon at Building 44, where engineers work on communications systems. NASA security got a call at 1:40 p.m. about a man with a weapon at Building 44, where engineers work on communications systems. Photo: Courtesy Khou Photo: Courtesy Khou Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close 2 dead in JSC hostage standoff 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A NASA contract worker barricaded himself inside a Johnson Space Center building Friday and killed one of two hostages before committing suicide.

William A. Phillips, a 60-year-old engineer, fatally shot co-worker David Beverly in the chest with a snub-nosed revolver about 1:40 p.m., authorities said.

More than three hours later, with Houston police and JSC security officers inside the three-story Building 44, Phillips shot himself in the head. Police found a second hostage, Francelia Crenshaw, also a contract worker, bound to a chair with duct tape in the same room.

She was taken to Christus St. John Hospital near the center and later released.

It was not clear why Phillips — described as a model employee for 13 years by Mike Coats, JSC's director — went on the rampage. Police were unable to communicate with him during the standoff.

On a chalkboard in the room where his body was found, Phillips left a list of names and phone numbers and a scribbled note, which was not immediately understandable, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.

There was apparently a dispute between Phillips and Beverly, but the gunman did not threaten Crenshaw, who was uninjured, Hurtt said.

Unmarried and with no children, Phillips' closest relative is a cousin, Hurtt said.

Police also searched Phillips' sparsely furnished house in Clear Lake for more than an hour, but found nothing to indicate he had planned the confrontation, officer Gabe Ortiz said.

Ties to shuttle work

Phillips worked for Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. , which employs more than 1,000 employees in its five-year contract with NASA. The Pasadena, Calif.-based company has a wide-ranging business that includes aerospace and defense contracts, as well as providing services to the energy, pharmaceutical, building and automotive industries.

For NASA, the engineering firm has been involved in designing a system to analyze the impact of debris that might hit the space shuttle's wings, according to the company's Web site.

John Prosser, the company's executive vice president of finance and administration, confirmed Phillips' employment but would not release any details of his work history.

"We do not release personal data," Prosser said, adding that the company would not release any further comment until the conclusion of the case.

Phillips worked with Beverly, a NASA civil servant, and Crenshaw, who is an employee of MRI Computer Services, in Building 44, located at the center of the sprawling 1,600-acre campus.

Evacuation ordered

In all, about 50 people work in the building, which includes offices and labs for engineers working on communications and tracking systems related to the space shuttle program.

After the first reports of gunfire, employees evacuated the building and others were ordered to remain in their offices for several hours. Nearby, Space Center Intermediate School kept its teachers and 900 students inside until 3:30 p.m.

The standoff, officials said, did not disrupt activity at Mission Control, where the agency was preparing for Saturday's return of a Russian spacecraft carrying two Americans.

Coats updated employees on the situation in an e-mail message Friday night.

''A tragedy struck our NASA family today," he wrote. ''While we don't understand all that has happened. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and co-workers who lost their loved ones today and the survivor who endured a tragic ordeal."

Coats said he expected the NASA facility to return to normal operations on Monday, largely because the incident was confined to one building. However, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was flying to Houston to meet with Coats and his staff Saturday morning to discuss operations.

NASA, meanwhile, will offer counseling to employees, Coats said.

Phillips was known in his neighborhood as a quiet man who kept to himself. Joseph Thomas, who lived across Jade Meadow Court from Phillips for three years, did not recognize his name and rarely saw him.

Michael Russell, who lived in the same well-kept subdivision as Phillips for 13 years, said he had waved at him on the way to work Friday, and was stunned to learn of the violent outburst just hours later.

"There was nothing in his behavior, the way he acted or what he said that would give you any indication that he would snap like this," Russell said.

Few neighbors said they even knew where Phillips worked.

Prompting look at stress

The baffling tragedy was a second jolt to NASA in less than three months. Former astronaut Lisa Nowak is accused of trying to kidnap a rival for a space shuttle pilot's affections in February.

Nowak, who drove to Florida from Houston to confront the other woman, became the first astronaut charged with a felony and subsequently became the first astronaut fired from the astronaut corps.

The two incidents raised questions about the stress level of workers at the NASA installation.

"We need to look at it," Coats said late Friday. "Are the employees stressed out here or no? I don't know. We've tried to keep our fingers on that pulse. We work our folks pretty hard, no question about it."

NASA will take a second look at security, said Eileen Hawley, the agency's director of external relations. Anyone who comes onto the campus must carry an employee badge or a visitor badge. Visitors must show a driver's license or some other form of identification to enter the property.

Chronicle reporters Tom Fowler, Paige Hewitt, Anne Marie Kilday and Armando Villafranca contributed to this report. The story was written by Matthew Tresaugue.

matthew.tresaugue@chron.com