ATLANTA — The widow of a victim of a shooting rampage that claimed three lives at a Penske Truck Rental facility said in a lawsuit yesterday that company managers received several warnings that a disgruntled former employee threatened to kill people but failed to take “reasonable steps’’ to protect its workers.
The suit filed in a Cobb County court asserted former technician Jessie James Warren made death threats to several of his colleagues at the Kennesaw facility but managers failed to respond. It also said Warren made “overt threats’’ to kill people to a mental health counselor before the Jan. 12 shooting spree.
Prosecutors say Warren burst into the Atlanta-area office wearing camouflage and unloaded his handgun into a crowd of former colleagues as the office was bustling with some two dozen workers and several customers. When the attack was over, three people were dead — two employees and a customer — and two more were in critical condition, according to authorities.
After the shootings, prosecutors say Warren sped away in a pickup truck and was arrested by authorities about a mile away. He has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and is being held without bond.
The lawsuit was filed by Barbara Springer, the widow of Van Springer, 59.
It asserts Penske’s upper-level management was warned numerous times that Warren was plotting to kill people at the Kennesaw location.
Penske spokesman Randy 
