Laguna Beach Accountant Survives Shooting in Long Beach Parking Lot : Crime: The college employee is hit three times while changing a flat tire. Detectives are seeking his brother for questioning.

A Laguna Beach accountant was gunned down in a parking lot at Long Beach Community College but was listed in fair condition Friday after undergoing more than five hours of surgery, authorities said.

Marc D. Berry, 46, was shot three times Thursday evening as he changed a flat tire in one of the college’s parking lots, said Sgt. David Anderson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Anderson said a witness saw a lone gunman walk up to Berry, an internal auditor at the college, at about 6 p.m. Thursday and fire a large-caliber handgun without saying a word. The victim tried to run, but his attacker chased him and fired again, the witness said.

There were probably six shots in all, authorities said. Berry was hit three times--in the mouth, arm and stomach.

Detectives have been unable to question Berry because of his condition, but Anderson said he indicated he did not know his assailant. Witnesses said the gunman left the scene in a white Volkswagen Rabbit.

One witness, who asked not to be identified, said the assailant “just sauntered over” to where Berry was changing his tire in the parking lot.

“We could just hear the shots,” the witness said. “(Berry) ran over to a grassy area by one of the buildings and he had his hands on his knees like he was out of breath.”

No one has been arrested in the shooting, but Anderson said detectives were seeking to question Berry’s brother, 47-year-old Colorado resident Scott Berry.

Anderson said the two brothers had had a “long-running dispute over an inheritance” but he provided no other details.

Family members in Laguna Beach declined Friday to comment on the shooting.

Marc Berry, who has two college-age children, divorced and moved from Portland, Ore., to Southern California about two years ago and soon was hired by the college.

A graduate of Laguna Beach High School, he moved into his mother’s Laguna Beach home after moving to California. But he also rented a room in a Long Beach condominium to avoid a long drive to work during the week.

Accountant Mary Thorpe, Berry’s co-worker, described him as a friendly person who would quickly strike up conversations with strangers. Thorpe said she was shocked that anyone would want to hurt him.

Berry, a bicycling enthusiast who worked out twice a week at the college’s fitness center during his lunch hour, never said too much about his private life, Thorpe said. But he is an exceptionally considerate co-worker, she said.

Thorpe said he set up cycling routes near the college for his colleagues and he had brought chocolate candies for the office the day he was shot.

“He was very non-confrontational, very likable,” Thorpe said. “He is the last person we would expect to have any kind of problem.”

Many employees at the college assumed the gunman had targeted Berry and there was little danger for others.

“I don’t think we’re in any kind of personal jeopardy, but I don’t know,” said a library employee who asked not to be identified.

Student Erwin Escriba, 19, of Long Beach had heard some talk of the shooting in a morning class.

“It’s something that just happens,” he said.

Times staff writer Davan Maharaj contributed to this report.