A Los Angeles County firefighter appeared to have a longstanding job-related dispute with the colleague he shot and killed at their small fire station in what became California’s second deadly workplace shooting in less than a week, authorities said Wednesday.
The gunman also wounded a fire captain at the station about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Los Angeles on Tuesday before setting his house on fire in a nearby community and apparently killing himself, officials said.
Preliminary interviews with other employees at Fire Station 81 indicate the shooter and the firefighter who was killed had “some workplace beef,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Dean, who is overseeing the homicide investigation.
“It sounds like they didn’t like each other,” Dean told The Associated Press, without elaborating about their problems.