LA Fire Captain Expected To Recover From Station 81 Shooting

AGUA DULCE, CA — A 54-year-old Los Angeles County Fire Department captain wounded in Tuesday's Agua Dulce fire station shooting has undergone surgery and is expected to survive, authorities said Wednesday.

The news offers consolation to a tight-knit community mourning the death of 44-year-old firefighter Tory Carlon, who died in the shooting at Fire Station 81 Tuesday. Firefighters lined up overnight to pay tribute to Carlon as his body was carried in a solemn procession from the Agua Dulce fire station to the Los Angeles County coroner's office. As the community attempts to process the tragedy, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department investigators are working to find out what led the gunman, an off-duty firefighter to open fire at the fire station before setting his home on fire and killing himself in California's second fatal workplace shooting in six days.

Carlon, a 21- year veteran of the fire department, was a married father of three daughters. At a vigil in Acton Tuesday night, about 200 people gathered to pay tribute to the Carlon.

"When it comes to being a father, when it comes to being a fireman, when it comes to being a mentor, there was nobody that could parallel that," said a fellow firefighter.

Carlon had been with the department for more than 20 years and was a career firefighter, starting in a U.S. Forest Service Explorer Program, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby. He described Carlon as "truly dedicated, one of our better firefighters, amazing, and a true loss to our department."

As Carlon's body was transported from the station where he worked and died, freeway overpasses along the route were filled with grieving firefighters standing at attention to honor him.

Osby said he activated the department's chaplain program, peer-support team and mental-health specialists to offer support for affected firefighters and their families.

Carlon died at the scene of the shooting that occurred about 10:55 a.m. Tuesday at Fire Station 81 in the 8700 block of Sierra Highway. He was shot multiple times in the upper body. His fire captain also suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition with stable vital signs.

The coroner's office identified the gunman as Wednesday as 45-year-old Jonathan Patrick Tatone, an off-duty county firefighter at Station 81.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva, whose agency is handling the shooting investigation, declined to comment on details of the investigation late Wednesday morning. But sheriff's homicide Lt. Brandon Dean told The Associated Press that preliminary interviews with station employees indicate there was "some workplace beef" between Carlon and Tatone. He did not elaborate other than to say, "It sounds like they didn't like each other."

The Los Angeles Times, citing two sources with knowledge of the situation, reported that there was an ongoing dispute between Carlon and Tatone. The sources told The Times the dispute was apparently over the way the station was run and maintained, and the pair had argued in the past about various issues.

Tatone drove to his home in Acton about 10 miles from the station and appeared to set fire to the structure. He was later found dead in the home's backyard of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Carlon's brother, Brent, wrote on Facebook Tuesday: "I don't post a lot of personal information on Facebook, but will everyone please keep our family in your prayers as my brother is the firefighter that was killed in the shooting in Agua Dulce today."

Osby struggled to maintain his composure Tuesday as he discussed the shooting.

"I stand here with a heavy heart," Osby said. "Today is truly a sad day and a tragic day for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. And I stand here from the perspective that you see other people do, but I just never thought it would be me or our fire department family that would suffer this type of loss.

"... I recognize and we all recognize that the work that our firefighters and our firefighter-paramedics do is a dangerous and arduous profession. And many times they put their lives in danger to protect and serve others when they receive 911 calls for service. But yet, as a fire chief, I never thought that when our firefighters face danger that they would face that danger in one of our community fire stations."

According to sheriff's Lt. Brandon Dean, witnesses to the shooting were quickly able to identify the gunman and his vehicle to responding deputies, who tracked him to his home in the 2600 block of Bent Spur Drive in Acton. Authorities said the suspect barricaded himself inside the home and set it on fire.

Uncertain of the gunman's status, fire crews were unable to immediately respond to the blaze, and the flames chewed through the sprawling home. As the fire raged, sheriff's crews spotted a man in the backyard of the home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The body was seen in a seated, slumped-over position inside an empty swimming pool.

Fire crews eventually were able to douse the flames from the air, making a series of water drops. That eventually allowed sheriff's deputies to access the property and confirm the person seen in the pool was dead.

Dean said investigators would be interviewing other firefighters assigned to the station in hopes of determining a motive for the shooting.

The deadly shooting rocked the close-knit fire department.

"This morning when I received the news, it was some of the worst news that I've heard in my career," Osby said. "And as a fire chief, I've dealt with a lot of death and a lot of fallen members of my department. And I've always prayed that we would never have a line-of-duty death. I never thought that if it occurred that it would occur in this fashion.

"I know that as firefighters we are in a profession of providing assistance to others," he added. "But I ask that in this particular situation, that we ask you for your support, that we ask you for your assistance, that we ask you for your prayers in our time of need."

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who chairs the Board of Supervisors, wrote on Twitter, "My most sincerest condolences to the family of the firefighter who was tragically killed in today's shooting at Fire Station 81 in Agua Dulce. My thoughts are with our @LACOFD family. At my direction, flags will be flown half-staff at all County buildings."

County Supervisor Janice Hahn called the shooting "an unspeakable tragedy."

"The work our firefighters do is dangerous," she wrote on Twitter. "They go to work every day knowing they may be asked to put their lives on the line to protect others. Between emergency calls, the fire station must have felt like their safe haven. Unfortunately that sense of safety has now been shattered.

"But I know, in spite of the violence today in Agua Dulce, our LA County firefighters will continue their unwavering commitment to protecting the rest of us and we thank them for that."

Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, the union for county firefighters, said the union is also offering peer-support and other services to affected members.

"Fire fighters leave their homes and loved ones every day knowing the risks involved in our profession," he said. "The challenges of being a fire fighter or paramedic include seeing and experiencing some of life's most horrifying circumstances. Nothing, however, can adequately prepare anyone for today's tragedy."

City News Service, the Associated Press and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.