The State - News from Sept. 19, 1986

A prank in which a security guard at a nuclear weapons facility in Livermore was wounded has led to the firing of two guards and the suspension of two others. The four used “gross errors in judgment” in firing several blank rounds from their laser rifles to wake another guard who had fallen asleep in his vehicle Saturday, Marilyn Mulhall of Advance Security Inc. said. The Atlanta-based firm provides guard protection at the Sandia National Laboratory in Livermore. The sleeping guard, Tim Brandt, frantically fired his .38-caliber revolver through the windshield, wounding one of the other guards, Richard Via, in the thigh. Via and another security sergeant, Mark Doughtery, were fired. Guards Jay Cobb and Rick DeRosa were given “disciplinary time off and probation.” Brandt was put on paid leave pending counseling.