It looked like business as usual with trucks hurrying in and out of the bays for service. But the mood at the facility was noticeably somber.
Two security guards stood watch over the grounds - one at the front gate checking the IDs of customers and employees, and the other walking the grounds.
Bouquets of flowers were piled high under the Penske sign as a memorial to the victims of the shooting, which left three dead and two who remain in critical condition at WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
"It's a very sad, sad day," Charlie Buckshaw said. Buckshaw is an executive account manager at the Penske facility. "We lost some great people, and we're just trying to recover. It's going to take a long time."
Penske employees and many of its customers were instructed not to talk to the media about the case or suspect, Jessie James Warren, 60, a former mechanic at the facility.
Warren has been charged with three counts of murder and five counts of felony aggravated assault. He is being held at Cobb County Jail without bond until his first bond hearing on Feb. 9.
Joseph Fink, a truck driver with JMC Restaurant Distribution, Inc., a customer of Penske, said he was shocked when he heard the news of the shootings on Tuesday.
Fink had been there for three hours just before the shootings occurred. He said he knew three of the five victims, Roberto Gonzalez, 31, Joshua Holbrook, 27, and Zachariah J. Werner, 35. Fink said he also knew Warren, but not personally.
"They were all good, nice people," Fink said of the victims. "They all just did their jobs ... they seemed happy."
Fink has worked for JMC Restaurant Distribution for four years and said he visits the Penske facility several times a week. He said Gonzalez, Holbrook and Werner frequently worked on his truck and were the kind of people who would do anything to help out their customers.
Fink said he never heard any complaints from any of the mechanics at Penske about their working conditions or co-workers.
Gonzalez died on Wednesday afternoon at WellStar Kennestone Hospital, and was kept on life support for organ donation. His brother-in-law Joshua Holbrook and Werner remain in critical condition at the hospital.
The other two victims, Van Springer, 59, and Jaider Felipe Marulanda, 43, both died on Tuesday. Marulanda was the only victim who did not work for Penske.
On Friday afternoon, the families of both Holbrook and Werner released a statement saying "Thank you for the prayers and please keep them coming. Our families greatly appreciate all thoughts and prayers for Josh and Zach. We ask for continued privacy during this very difficult period."
Cobb Police released the warrant for Warren on Friday morning. It stated that Warren "fired multiple shots from at least two handguns" when he entered the Penske facility on Tuesday shortly before 2 p.m.
Springer's funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Hopewell Baptist Church on Ridge Road at Bells Ferry Road in Canton. Springer's family and Pastor Norman Hunt has requested that the media not come on to church property before, after and during the funeral.










