Ex-Employee Kills Newsstand Operator, Then Shoots Himself

Trouble that had been brewing for months boiled over Monday morning in a shooting that left two men dead and a third wounded on the sidewalk outside the Wilshire News newsstand at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.

Newsstand operator Ray Cors, 37, was fatally wounded by a disgruntled former employee, who then shot himself in the head and fell dead on the sidewalk. An employee of the newsstand, Tilfrin Wewegama 24, was wounded in the gunfire.

Los Angeles Police Detective Don Roberts said the gunman, identified as Joseph Morrow, 39, had been fired by Cors about a year ago for failing to show up for work. Since then, there had been an ongoing dispute between the two men, Roberts said.

Pointed the Weapon

About 7:30 a.m. Monday, according to Roberts, Morrow approached the newsstand at 648 S. Vermont Ave. with a gun in his hand, argued with Cors and pointed the weapon at the newsstand operator.

Standing behind Morrow, Wewegama cried “No. No. Don’t do it,” according to witnesses.

Morrow turned and fired one shot, hitting Wewegama in the wrist, then turned back and fired at Cors, who slumped to his knees. The gunman walked to Cors, placed the gun to his head and fired, Roberts said.

Then, backing toward the curb, Morrow shot himself in the head.

Cors died later at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Wewegama was in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center.

Roberts said Morrow was arrested in June for stealing Cors’ car, after Morrow showed up at the newsstand and asked to borrow money from Cors, who then drove his former employee to a nearby grocery store to buy food.

At the market, Morrow pulled a gun, and Cors jumped out of the automobile and ran into the store, Roberts said. Morrow then fled with the car.

As a police officer washed blood from the sidewalk and gutter with a hose at mid-morning Monday, passers-by, some of whom had known Cors, expressed shock at the shooting.

“It’s just senseless,” said David E. Place, an underwriter for Argonaut Insurance nearby. “The thing that bothers me is where are they getting these guns. It’s crazy.”

Art Hudson, 33, who lives nearby, said he came to the newsstand every day and often talked to Cors, who had bought a guitar from him. “It’s a shock,” Hudson said. “Ray was going to call me to get his guitar tuned.”

Dave Ellis, operator of Robertson Magazine and Book Store in West Los Angeles, where Cors once worked, said Cors would come by his place about once a week.

“We’d trade and talk shop,” Ellis said. “He was easygoing. He didn’t seem to be affected by the pressure much. Always had a quick smile. I think he was going to law school. Everyone liked him.”