Man Held in Shooting of 2 Co-Workers

A Mobil Oil Co. employee shot two co-workers Saturday--killing one man and seriously wounding another--in a parking lot where workers had gathered for a training session on hazardous materials, police said.

Immediately after the shooting, police arrested 56-year-old Rudy Vibangco Terrenal of Buena Park on suspicion of murder. Investigators said they do not know the motive for the shooting.

The dead man was identified as David Dawkins, 44, of Chino. Steven Bowling, 45, of Lakewood was shot in the chest and was in serious but stable condition at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange.

All three men worked as instrument technicians, said Barry Engelberg, a Mobil Oil refinery spokesman in Torrance. He said they were among six Mobil workers who had signed up for a training course at the offices of Burke Engineers at 415 W. Lambert Road.

Dawkins was a supervisor and a 22-year veteran with Mobil, and Bowling has worked for the company for 11 years, Engelberg said. He would not discuss Terrenal.

“It’s really unclear why this happened,” Engelberg said. “It’s still a mystery to us.”

Bowling’s brother, Mike, drove to the hospital from Bakersfield after learning that his brother had been shot. “We’re numb,” he said Saturday night as he sat in the hospital waiting room with his wife and Steve Bowling’s girlfriend.

Mike Bowling said other Mobil workers told him that an employee had started shooting at another employee at the training school when Steve Bowling yelled at the gunman to stop. At that point, he said, the gunman turned and shot Steve Bowling too.