From ABCNews.com:

Hartford Shooter: Clues in Workplace Violence Sprees Humiliation Can Trigger Rage, Experts Say; Gunman Believed Racists Were Targeting Him By KIM CAROLLO and EMILY FRIEDMAN

Aug. 4, 2010

The allegations of racial harassment that Omar Thornton told his family about may have been what finally sent him over the edge and on his fatal rampage, according to mental health experts.

From NECN, a ComCast Network:

Shooter's girlfriend: Company should be held accountable for racism

(NECN) - Kristi Hannah, says her boyfriend Omar Thornton was harassed at work prior to this week's shootings.

Kristi spoke with NECN's Brian Burnell Thursday, but did not want her face shown.

"There were racial things being said to him, and there was drawings on the bathroom walls," says Hannah.

She said the drawings included a stick figure hanging, and racial slurs. She says he had called his union rep two times, and never got a call back. ...

She said she is speaking out because, she wants, "everybody to know that Budweiser should be held accountable for the racism stuff.

I'm not just cherrypicking absurd news stories. This is a sizable theme of the coverage. The MSM is trying to get to the bottom of this pressing issue of whether white racism led this guy to shoot eight people. From CNN just one hour ago on Thursday afternoon, we learn that the answer to the burning question of whether we can blame this unfortunate incident on the scourge of white racism is, so far, no:

Company says Connecticut gunman never filed race complaint By the CNN Wire Staff

Story Highlights: * NEW: Company president said no racial complaints were filed * Omar Thornton brought two guns with him in a lunch box, police say * Authorities believe at least some of the victims were targeted * Thornton's girlfriend says he was racially harassed at work

(CNN) — The president of a Connecticut beverage distributor said Thursday a man who went on a shooting rampage this week never filed a claim alleging racial discrimination.

The girlfriend of Omar Thornton, who killed eight people and then himself, told CNN that he was being racially harassed at work.

But Ross Hollander, whose family owns Hartford Distributors, said there were no grievances filed with the company or Thornton's union.

"I can state to you unequivocally no racism claim was ever alleged," Hollander said at a news conference. "Nevertheless, these ugly allegations have been raised and the company will cooperate with any investigation."

Kristi Hannah, Omar Thornton's girlfriend, said he first told her about racial harassment at work last summer.

Hannah said her mother told Thornton to take pictures of the alleged harassment with his cell phone. He took two pictures in the men's bathroom at work, she said. She described one as his name written on a cartoon, and the other as a drawing of a hangman with a noose around its neck. Connecticut state police have the phone.

Hannah's mother, Joanne Hannah, said she had heard of the cell phone photos. She said Thornton heard a co-worker say he "wanted that n****r out of there." She said Thornton told his girlfriend he had reported harassment to a company supervisor and a union representative, but nothing was done about it.

"There is nothing on record of any complaints from Omar, and there had been no disciplinary actions with him prior to this," said Chris Roos, secretary and treasurer of Teamsters Local 1035.

Manchester, Connecticut, police have said they have found no evidence of racial discrimination.

While I'm glad to see that the police are devoting time to this crucial question, we must always ask: Is absence of evidence truly evidence of absence of white racism as the cause of the recent unpleasantness?

P.S. I can't find from "Google News" any references to:

Hartford "hate crime"