Sunday 18 December 2011

Edison office shooting victims, killer identified

Southern California Edison has announced it will provide funds and grief counseling to employees and family members impacted by the office shooting rampage that left two people dead and two others critically wounded before the gunman took his own life.


The shooter was identified as 48-year-old Andre Turner of Norco, a SCE employee. The two people killed were later identified as 56-year-old Henry Serrano of Walnut and 53-year-old Robert Lindsay of Chino, according to Lt. Larry Dietz of the coroner's office.


Turner died at the scene. The remaining two victims -- a woman and a man -- were listed in critical condition at an area hospital, the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau said.


CBS2 reported that Turner of Norco walked into the Irwindale office building that houses more than 1,100 SCE employees on Friday and methodically began picking off other employees. There was no word yet from the sheriff's department regarding a motive for the attack.


The shootings occurred about 1:30 p.m. in the 4900 block of Rivergrade Road at Rivergrade Building 3 of an SCE facility. Company officials confirmed the shooter was a Southern California Edison employee, and those who were shot were also associated with the company -- three employees and one contractor.


Two people were dead at the scene and a third died while being taken to a hospital, said Baldwin Park police Capt. Mike Taylor.


CBS2 reported that Lindsay was an operations manager in the IT division at SCE, He was also a father and a husband.


As of 1:30 a.m., neither the sheriff's department, the lead law enforcement agency in this investigation, nor the coroner's office has confirmed the identities of any of the dead, including the gunman.


The shooter was at work in the morning, but authorities did not know if he left and came back, sheriff's Lt. Holly Francisco told the Los Angeles Times.


The gunman methodically picked off co-workers, including some Edison supervisors, The Times reported, adding the shooter told some people to leave.


A budget meeting was held and cuts were discussed before the shooting began, KCAL reported, but police would not say if the threat of layoffs set off the attack.


KCAL also reported the shooter was underwater on his house, and police later searched his Norco house and escorted the man's family away.


The shooting occurred about 1:30 p.m. at Edison offices at 4910 Rivergrade Road, just off the 605 Freeway. Turner methodically picked off co-workers, a source told The Times.


"He told some people to leave and he was very deliberate about who he shot," the source said. "He did not like management."


After shooting his co-workers, Turner committed suicide, authorities said.


More than 1,000 people, mostly information technology staffers, work in the offices. Employees need a card key to get into the facility, according to Edison. The gated complex consists of two, two-story buildings and a three-story building where the shooting occurred.


Sheriff's investigators were interviewing many of the workers. "It's a slow process ... Eleven hundred people work there," said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman.


When the shooting erupted, employees hunkered down in their offices or break rooms, piling equipment in front of the doors, one worker said. Nearby schools were locked down for a brief period until authorities were sure the gunman was dead.


"This is one of the most horrible days in our company's history," Ted Craver, chairman and chief executive of Southern California Edison, said in a written statement Friday.


Lindsay had worked for Edison for 29 years; Serrano for 26. The shooter had been there for seven, said Edison spokesman Steven Conroy.


At a news conference Saturday, Conroy said the company will donate $100,000 to a fund established for victims and their families, and will match employee contributions. He also said the company has provided grief counselors to employees and family members.


"Edison appreciates the outpouring of support from the community at this difficult time," he said in a statement.


At the Serrano home in Walnut, a longtime friend, Jose Mejia, politely said that the family was not ready to talk now. He shared a holiday greeting card featuring a Serrano family portrait. Henry Serrano sits, beaming, with his wife and two daughters as his two sons stand behind with their fiancees. One son has his right hand on his father's shoulder.

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