Sixty-one-year old Eric Allen Kirkpatrick has been charged with first degree murder in the shooting death at a Christmas party

Sixty-one-year old Eric Allen Kirkpatrick has been charged with first degree murder in the shooting death at a Christmas party in Vancouver Friday night.Earlier in the day, police identified the man who was shot and killed as Benjamin David Banky, 40, was killed when a disgruntled former employee walked into the party and started firing shots, Vancouver police said in a news release Saturday. There were more than 12 employees of Tallgrass Distributors Ltd., at the work function when gunshots rang out around 4 p.m. local time. All except Mr. Banky were able to escape uninjured.
Mr. Banky was the president of the Vancouver-based company, which is a natural-health-product supplier. The company, originally called Tallgrass Hemp Company, specializes in beauty products based on the hemp plant. Vancouver police locked down the area in the central Mount Pleasant neighbourhood for several hours Friday as they negotiated with the 61-year-old male gunman. Investigators say the man had been fired from the company on Dec. 11. The man surrendered two hours after the shooting.