On September 15, 1997, Ernest Leonard Filyaw, 31, was killed while working as a tool and die machinist at the R.E. Phelon Company in Aiken, South Carolina. A former employee, Hastings Arthur Wise, entered the plant armed with a semi-automatic pistol after being fired in July and went on a shooting rampage. Wise first shot a security guard and then fatally shot personnel manager Charles Griffeth. In the tool and die area he encountered Ernest Filyaw and co-worker David Wayne Moore; both men were shot and killed. A fourth employee, Esther Sheryl Wood, was also killed and several others were wounded.

After the attack Wise attempted suicide by ingesting insecticide, survived, and was arrested. Reports state Wise said he believed his termination and the denial of promotions were racially motivated; he did not contest guilt at trial and declined to have defense witnesses called. Does anyone have memories of Filyaw at the plant or information that could add to the understanding of that day?