UPDATED: FBI investigating Oklahoma beheading tragedy

MOORE, Okla. – The FBI joined local authorities Friday in investigating the background of an Islamic worker accused of beheading one employee and seriously injuring another at a food processing plant in this Oklahoma City suburb. Police said Alton Nolen, 30, a vegetable cutter at Vaughan Foods Inc. of Moore, used a 10-inch work knife to kill and wound the front office employees at 4:10 p.m. Thursday.  He had just been fired. The company’s chief operating officer, Mark Vaughan, stopped the brutal attack by shooting Nolen with a rifle he kept in his office. Police lauded Vaughan, a reserve deputy sheriff, as a hero who prevented further mayhem. “There is every reason to believe that the lives of untold others were saved,” said Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel. Beheaded in the attack was Colleen Hufford, 54. Police said she encountered Nolen as he walked into the company’s front office minutes after being fired in another part of the sprawling food processing and distribution plant. Traci Johnson, 43, who also worked in the front office, was stabbed multiple times before her attacker was shot. She was taken in serious condition to a nearby hospital. Nolen survived two bullets fired into his body, authorities said. He was also taken to the hospital for surgery. Authorities said he would be formally charged as soon as his medical condition permitted. Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said Nolen was a converted Muslim who had been seeking to solicit his fellow workers at Vaughan Foods to his Islamic faith. He said because of that aspect of the case, the FBI was asked to assist with the investigation. The tragedy occurred at a time when public safety tensions are heightened across the country by terrorists in the Middle East publicly beheading Western journalists and aid workers in retaliation for their countries opposing the radical Islamic State group.