San Gabriel : Man Sought in Shootings

Police are seeking a former employee of O & G Water Conditioning Co. for questioning in the Dec. 22 slayings of the owner and another employee.

Steven Ciotta, 25, had been fired after the owner, Otto Baumann, 78, filed a crime report about a month ago alleging that Ciotta stole company funds, police Sgt. Jim Goodman said. Ciotta, who was charged with petty theft by police, had an appointment with Baumann on the date of the shootings, Goodman said.

Baumann and O & G Vice President Fredrick Schaub, 58, were shot to death. Leo Blakeman, 74, a salesman, was shot in the head and chest and is in fair condition at San Gabriel Valley Medical Center. Blakeman has told police that he did not see his assailant.

Baumann, a Glendora resident, was a major benefactor to the University of Nebraska, from which he was graduated. In 1984, he and his wife donated $250,000 for the Otto and Gladys Baumann clubhouse for the university’s baseball team.