Local News in Brief : Life Term for Slaying Ex-Boss and Worker
A fired worker was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for murdering his 87-year-old boss and an employee, and trying to kill a second employee by shooting him twice in the head.
Pasadena Superior Court Judge Coleman Swart imposed the term on Steven Ciotta, 26, who pleaded guilty last month to two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstance allegations and one count of attempted murder.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Butch Sims said Ciotta, a San Gabriel Valley transient, fatally shot Otto Baumann, the owner of Baumann’s O & G Water Conditioning store in San Gabriel, last Dec. 22. Ciotta also killed Bud Schaub, 58, and wounded Leo Blakeman, 73.
Ciotta was arrested Jan. 4 by sheriff’s deputies while he was sleeping in a truck missing from the business.
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