Andre Turner, had one thing on his mind Friday afternoon.
Murder.
The 48-year-old walked into a Southern Southern Edison complex that houses more than 1,000 SCE employees and methodically opened fire on members of management.
"He told some people to leave and he was very deliberate about who he shot," a source told the Los Angeles Times.
Turner used a semi-automatic handgun to slay Henry Serrano, 56, and Robert Scott Lindsay, 53, both men, managers in the information technology department, had been employed with Edison over 25 years.
Angela Alvarez, 46, and Abhay Pimpale were also shot by Turner before he turned the gun on himself, committing suicide at the scene of his crimes, confirmed Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz to The Associated Press. Turner had been an Edison employee for seven years, utility spokesman Steven Conroy said.
NBC Los Angeles reports that foreclosure may have been at the root of Turner’s rage:
“Citing real estate website zillow.com, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported that Turner's 5,000 square-foot home was purchased in 2004 for $711,000. It was reportedly put up for sale in November for $590,000. “
The gunman’s wife, Jean Turner, released the following statement to KTLA:
"We are in shock and still trying to process this tragic event. Our hearts and prayers go out to all the victims and their families."
Authorities were questioning employees about possible motive as late as Sunday afternoon while one of Turner’s victims still lay recovering in the hospital.
2 comments:
I have a tremendous amount of sympathy & sorrow for all of the victims, families & employees that were affected by this tragic event. In my view, such a tragic event could have been avoided. That said, according Mr. Turner's co-workers and neighbors, via the Media, not one had anything negative, degrading or demeaning to say about his character. The end result was they all basically said he was a "nice guy." So if he was seen as being a "nice guy" to his co-workers and neighbors why was their apparent friction between him, the two managers, co-worker & contractor? Was he harassed, bullied and basically targeted with the former and latter because he was Black?
My concern revolves around the fact that I live roughly 29 miles from the scene of this tragic event, my uncle's wife recently retired from SCE (another location), and I was victimized by harassment & bullying, based on skin color, during my tenure at the Southern Calif. Gas co. in 1983 and I went through the same form of harassment & bullying, based on skin color, during my tenure at Stater Bros Markets in 2000, therefore I know through first hand experience what it means to be Black and surrounded in a work environment by people of a different culture, hue & legacy. I know, from experience that a Black man, in So. Calif. is extremely vulnerable to be stereotyped as ignorant, dumb and stupid, based solely on 'skin color,' regardless of how well he proved himself to be otherwise, over the previous five years, etc. It's unfortunate but the Media bears some responsibility, as to why others seem to sporadically entertain the idea to look down on Black folks, particularly in Calif. The media's involvement with "race based profiling schemes" are easily accomplished being that Blacks are only 7% of the populace, Asians 13%, Hispanics 37% & whites are 40%. When the Media scanned the cameras on the employees at the SCE facility I did not detect one Black male employee. In my opine, there was something wrong with that picture.
Again, my heart goes out to all of the families effected by this event.
PEACE
I have a tremendous amount of sympathy & sorrow for all of the victims, families & employees that were affected by this tragic event. In my view, such an event could have been avoided. That said, according to Mr. Turner's co-workers and neighbors, via the Media, not one had anything negative, degrading or demeaning to say about his character. The end result was they all basically said he was a "nice guy." So if he was seen as being a "nice guy" to his co-workers and neighbors why was there apparent friction between him, the two managers, co-worker & contractor? Was he harassed, bullied and basically targeted because he was Black?
My concern revolves around the fact that I live roughly 29 miles from the scene of this tragic event, my uncle's wife recently retired from SCE (another location), and I’ve experienced being victimized by harassment & bullying, based on skin color, during my tenure at the Southern Calif. Gas co. in 1983 and the same form of harassment & bullying, based on skin color, while employed at Stater Bros Markets in 2000, therefore I know through first hand experience what it means to be Black and surrounded in a work environment by people of a different culture, hue, & have stereotypical views towards Black people. Further, I know based on my experience, that a Black person, in So. Calif. is extremely vulnerable to be “quickly” stereotyped as ignorant, dumb and stupid, based solely on 'skin color,' regardless of how well he or she proved themselves to be otherwise over the previous 3 to 5 years, etc. It's unfortunate but the Media bears some responsibility, as to why others seem to sporadically entertain the idea to look down on Black folks, particularly in Calif. The media's involvement with "race based profiling schemes" are easily accomplished in Calif. being that Blacks are only 7% of the populace, Asians 13%, Hispanics 37% & whites are 40%. When the Media scanned the cameras on the employees at the SCE facility I did not detect one Black male employee. That said, a "picture" can be worth a million words... In my opine, there was something wrong with that picture because racism and hatred towards Blacks by whites & non-whites is alive and well, particularly in Calif.
Again, my heart goes out to all of the families effected by this event.
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