Investigation continues in Irwindale Edison office shooting

IRWINDALE — Homicide detectives are continuing to try to make sense of a shooting in a Southern California Edison office earlier this month that left three people dead, including the gunman, and two others wounded.
Andre Turner, 48, of Norco showed up at the facility in the 4900 block of Rivergrade Road at his usual time on the morning of Dec. 16 and gave no indications of the violence that was to follow in the afternoon, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.
At about 1:30 p.m., Turner produced a handgun and began a murderous rampage, killing two of his supervisors and wounding two others before fatally shooting himself in the office building which primarily housed information technology employees, Lt. Holly Francisco of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said.
While Turner’s exact motivation remained under investigation, he was believed to have a work-related grievance of some kind, Francisco said.
“We don’t really have a motive yet, and may never have that,” she said. “But we do know the the supervisors (who were shot) were all in different levels of management in that I.T. group.”
“The victims were specifically sought out, due to the fact that he walked past other co-workers who were not shot,” Francisco said.
Turner even engaged co-workers in conversation in between shooting his superiors, officials said.
Other than being “counseled” regarding a missed deadline on another day earlier in the week, detectives had found no reason why Turner would have been angered at his employer.
When spoken to regarding the missed deadline, “he didn’t get into an argument,” Francisco said.
His job did not appear to be in jeopardy, she added. “He was not going to be laid off.”
Detectives remained busy with the investigation, Francisco said. “There’s still numerous interviews to do.”
She said the investigation had not yet focused on Turner’s financial situation.
Court records indicate his home in Norco home had been listed for sale in November at $590,000 — $121,000 less than it was purchased for in 2004. Records indicated he was also had a civil judgement against him and was being sued.
Killed in the shooting were Henry Serrano, 56, of Walnut and Robert Lindsay, 53, of Chino Hills, SCE officials said. Serrano had worked for the utility for 26 years, while Lindsay had 29 years on the job.
Turner shot and wounded two other supervisors who survived the attack, officials said.
Angela Alvarez, 46, of Glendale remained hospitalized due to the shooting, Francisco said. She is in stable condition, however she is still recovering from the wounds she suffered Dec. 16.
Contractor Abhay Pimpale, 38, of Montebello was also wounded in the shooting, but was released from the hospital in the days following the incident, according to SCE.
SCE has started a fund for employees to contribute to to benefit the families of the victims. The company seeded the fund with $100,000 and promised to match employee contributions.
Public donations can be sent to Wells Fargo Bank’s “SCE Rivergrade Victims Fund,” 1803 Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead, CA, 91770.
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