Gunman Fires at MCA Tower; 7 Injured : Violence: Distraught ex-employee surrenders after calmly pumping bullets into building.

A dispirited man with a high-powered rifle casually took up a position across the street from MCA World Headquarters in Universal City on Tuesday morning and alternately pumped bullets into the 15-story “Black Tower” and swigged from a bottle of liquor for about five minutes before surrendering to police.

Seven employees were wounded in the 35- to 40-bullet barrage; two were shot and five others were cut by flying glass.

Hundreds more, realizing only gradually that the strange whip-cracking sound was a muzzle report, crouched in terror for up to half an hour, not knowing whether the shots were coming from within the building or outside. The two most seriously injured, secretaries on the 14th floor, were in good condition after receiving treatment for bullet wounds in their upper arms.

Police identified the gunman as former MCA employee John Brian Jarvis, 58, of Pleasanton, who was dejected over his inability to find work.

“He was terminated from the company in 1986 and over a period of years he feels he has been unable to get a job,” Lt. Daniel Lang said. “So he has acquired a frustration level and channeled all of his anger to MCA.”

Jarvis’ landlord in Pleasanton said the gunman had hardly worked since leaving MCA, and his mother died in March, leaving him alone, broke and distraught.

Lang said Jarvis told detectives that he also fired at the next-door Bank of America because he owed an undisclosed amount of money to the bank.

“He owed outstanding debts,” Lang said. “So he fired rounds at Bank of America too.”

Jarvis’ demeanor was so placid Tuesday and the sound of the rifle shots was so unremarkable that people on the sidewalk took little notice through most of the volleys.

Dozens of witnesses watched in almost curious disbelief minutes before 10 a.m. as Jarvis allegedly parked a brown and white station wagon in an alley about 200 yards from the building, placed his bottle on the roof and opened fire with the Remington bolt-action hunting rifle in a staccato rhythm, stopping briefly to reload.

When a solitary police black-and-white drove up behind him and ordered him to surrender, Jarvis put the gun down, took one more drink and calmly gave himself up.

“It was like he was out shooting ducks on a summer’s day with a bottle of bourbon,” said Tom Rowland, an MCA employee who watched the shooting from the balcony of an adjacent building.

The bullets shattered at least 20 windows on most of the top seven floors.

“People just walked by as if to say: ‘Oh, some guy is shooting. It’s L.A.’ ” Rowland said.

Tony Labate, a Universal Studios editor who watched the commotion from across the street as he walked to the Bank of America next to the MCA tower, said cars and pedestrians continued right in front of the gunman.

“Suddenly somebody screamed: ‘Run for cover!’ ” he said. “It was funny because everyone was running in different directions because they didn’t know where it was coming from.”

Diane Delano, a Universal Studios stunt woman who lives nearby, said that at one point she saw Jarvis look a pedestrian right in the eye.

“He stopped and acknowledged him and then started shooting again,” Delano said.

“He was perfectly calm,” said Lorna Scott, another resident. “That’s why we didn’t think he was shooting real bullets. He looked over at me and smiled and then started shooting again.”

Inside the tower, about 40 employees on the 10th floor felt no alarm even as the bullets crashed through the windows below them.

Feature casting director Valerie McCaffrey had just left her Tuesday morning creative meeting two buildings to the south and walked to the tower to see her boss on the 10th floor, where she heard an unusual noise.

“It sounded like the crack of a whip,” McCaffrey said. “It didn’t sound like a gunshot. I thought, it must be some construction downstairs. It kept happening. It was really intense.”

Finally, a bullet pierced the window near her, leaving a baseball-size hole.

“People screamed. The gunshot was so loud we thought the guy was on the floor,” she said.

Three more bullets came through, one hitting a filing cabinet on the wall opposite the window.

“It was unbelievable,” McCaffrey said. “I thought our lives were over. Somebody said: ‘Go to the center of the room.’ We crawled on our knees. We shut all the doors of all the offices.”

They all huddled, afraid to move, for 15 minutes before someone came to say the gunman had been captured.

Four floors above, two women were shot in quick succession.

Executive secretary Dixie Tung, 41, of North Hollywood heard another secretary, Nettie Marie Gilreath, say shots had been fired.

“Ironically, she walked toward the window,” Tung said. “I went to get her. The next thing I knew, immediately she was on the floor.” Gilreath was hit by flying glass. Tung was shot twice in the arm.

The other shooting victim was Anna Kim, 25, of Hacienda Heights, who had a flesh wound in her upper right arm. Four other women were hit by flying glass.

Tung and Kim were taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Tung was reported in good condition after surgery Tuesday afternoon. Kim was treated and released.

Gilreath, 58, Emmy Zucca, 46, and Florenza Lewis, 45, were treated and released at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. Sandra Russel, 45, and Diana Maitland, 49, were treated and released at County USC Medical Center.

A witness who got out of the elevator on the 14th floor shortly after that said about a dozen people were cowering near the elevator, not knowing where the gunfire was coming from.

But in the center of the room, he saw the gaunt, commanding figure of Lew Wasserman, MCA’s 80-year-old chairman and chief executive officer, announcing in “a clear and steady voice” that there was no gunman in the building.

A spokeswoman for MCA said Wasserman works on another floor but went to the 14th floor after learning there were wounded people there.

The nightmare drew to a strangely easy close when Los Angeles Police Officers Jerry Theaker and Julias Stewart saw Jarvis, still shooting, as they drove south on Bluffside Drive.

“When we approached he was shooting over the top of a station wagon,” Theaker said. They ordered Jarvis to put down his gun and ordered him to get down on the ground. “He put the rifle on top of the station wagon and then took a vest off and put it on top of the station wagon,” Stewart said.

“We approached him and told him to get to the ground,” Theaker said. “He laid down on the street and put his hands behind his back.

“He appeared quite rational although his actions belie that he was not,” Theaker said.

Officer Rigoberto Romero said that as Jarvis was taken into custody he “alluded to the fact that he had some sort of dispute with somebody in the building.”

After the shooting, MCA continued operation, but advised all employees that they could go home if they wanted, said Christine Hanson, vice president, corporate communications and public affairs. Hanson said most chose to remain at work.

Jarvis was taken to the North Hollywood police station for booking on suspicion of attempted murder and later moved to Parker Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Jarvis lived on the ground floor of a two-story tan stucco apartment building near downtown Pleasanton, a suburb of 54,000 about 15 miles east of San Francisco Bay. Neighbors said he had lived there for about two years and attracted little attention.

His landlord, Larry Koch, said Jarvis left Pleasanton several weeks after the death of his mother, Secret, saying he did not have enough money to have her body cremated.

“He told me he was going to just pack up his old station wagon and let it take him somewhere--north, south, east or west--he wasn’t sure.”

Also contributing to this story were Times staff writers Alan Abrahamson, Richard Lee Colvin, Hugo Martin, Josh Meyer, Jenifer Warren and Nora Zamichow.

‘Black Tower’ Shooting

A man opened fire from the edge of a nearby park into the MCA World Headquarters building in Universal City about 10 a.m. Tuesday. Seven employees were wounded in the 35-to-40-bullet barrage, two hit by bullets and five others cut by flying glass.

14th floor: Where the two gunshot victims were struck

Other floors hit by bullets: 5,7,8,9,12

The weapon: The Remington 700 BDL

* A high-quality hunting and target shooting rifle that sells for about $400.

* Typically holds up to five rounds that must be individually chambered.

* The rifle was chambered for the 7-mm cartridge, accurate to approximately 400 yards.

In order to purchase a gun, a prospective buyer must submit to a 16-day waiting period and a background check by the California Department of Justice.

Researched by ANN BRENOFF / Los Angeles Times