On December 16, 2011, a gunman opened fire inside a Southern California Edison office building in Irwindale, California. The gunman, Andre Turner, killed two employees, and wounded two others, before committing suicide.

Shooting

Andre Turner, 48, arrived at an office building that primarily houses

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

employees, at his usual work time in the morning. He showed no signs of strange behavior prior to the attack and people weren't even aware of the shooting unfolding. At 1:30 pm, Turner took out a handgun in an office building and shot four people. A relative of an eyewitness claimed that the eyewitness saw the gunman walk in to a room and told a manager he was going to shoot him before the gunman opened fire. Investigators told reporters that Turner reportedly walked around the building during the shooting and talked to other employees who were unaware that he was the shooter, with many employees also unaware that there was a shooting at all. Other employees took action to protect themselves by pilling equipment in front of doors, and hiding in offices.

Victims

Two employees died: Henry Serrano, 56, of Walnut, and Robert Lindsay, 53, of

Chino Hills The Chino Hills are a mountain range on the border of Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties, California, with a small portion in Riverside County. The Chino Hills State Park preserves open space and habitat in them. Geography The C ...

, who were both supervisors and worked at the facility for at least twenty years. Angela Alvarez, 46, was critically wounded and Abhay Pimpale, 38, received a gun shot to his thigh. During the shooting rampage, Turner engaged in conversation with his co-workers. Turner then shot himself to death.

Perpetrator

Records indicated that Turner had a civil judgement against him and was being sued. Riverside County Superior Court records show that an individual bearing the same name was sued by

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

in 2008 and was awarded a default judgment against him in 2009, he was sued again by Cavalry Portfolio; a debt collection agency, in 2009. He was also listed as a

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

in a class action suit against UDC Homes that was dismissed in 2005. Turner had also been verbally reprimanded by his boss and was told that his employment was going to be terminated.

Aftermath

As a result, nearby schools were put on lock down, as were other Southern California Edison offices within a 50-mile radius. SCE started a fund for employees to benefit the victims' families. The company seeded the fund with $100,000 and promised to match employee contributions. The company performed an internal audit after the shooting which discovered a bloated management structure in the information technology department, which contributed to an unhealthy work environment. The report was contributed to with interviews from more than 700 employees. They also began making other changes shortly after the shooting which increased security measures, "augmented" training for managers and supervisors, enhancements to workplace violence and crisis-response programs and a review of employee performance is assessed.

References

Shooting

Victims

Perpetrator

Aftermath

See also

References