Shootings Spark Calls for Better Security Measures : Violence: Some wonder if warning signs were ignored before rampage. But officials say it is impossible to ensure workplace safety.

In the wake of the shooting of four city supervisory employees, the head of the city Personnel Department on Thursday called for an investigation to determine whether officials failed to adequately heed warning signs that the alleged killer could turn violent.

Personnel Department general manager Faye Washington and other top city officials urged further steps to make city buildings as safe as possible for employees and the public.

“We have a responsibility to create a safe and violent-free environment for our employees and we need to determine to what extent we’ve taken steps to ensure that we’re OK,” said Washington.

City electrician Willie Woods, 42, who had reacted violently several times in recent months to verbal and written warnings about his job performance, remained in custody Thursday for what police described as the systematic shootings Wednesday of his supervisors in the communications division at the city’s Downtown technical center.

Woods’ annual evaluation, issued in November, questioned the quality of his work as well as other performance-related problems, General Services Department general manager Randall C. Bacon said Thursday.

In recent weeks, Woods and his supervisors had talked frequently about the evaluation, and James Walton, one of the four killed, apparently discussed it with the suspect Tuesday.

“[But] there were no indications he would get this violent,” said Bacon, the head of the department for which the employees worked.

Yet hours after the methodical attack, a union official said Woods had repeatedly expressed extreme anger at his superiors as a result of job evaluation issues. “It seemed he was on the brink of violent action,” said Robert Sipe, a business representative of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 45. “He reacted violently to any type of verbal or written warnings.”

The 12-year city radio repairman allegedly carried out the rampage with a semiautomatic, 19-shot Glock pistol shortly after a loud, angry discussion with his bosses.

The Upland resident was being held Thursday at Los Angeles County Jail. Los Angeles police are expected to present the case to the district attorney’s office this morning for a decision on filing homicide charges. District attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said that Woods could be arraigned as early as this afternoon in the Downtown Criminal Courthouse.

Authorities say Woods shot the city’s most senior employee, Anthony J. Gain, 78, and another ranking supervisor, Marty Wakefield, 57, in their office cubicles. He then walked down a flight of stairs, consciously bypassing at least one other employee, before opening fire on Neil Carpenter, 61, and James Walton, 60, police said.

Minutes later, Woods surrendered outside to police.

A day after the shooting, a heightened police presence was apparent at the massive C. Erwin Piper Technical Center.

“The city has been talking about security at city buildings for the past six months,” said Bacon. “Now, obviously, after this tragic event, we’re going to have to re-evaluate security citywide.”

Yet city officials acknowledged that efforts to protect against similar incidents can only go so far.

“It’s difficult to protect against the employee who does have a security clearance but who might have the propensity to behave in a violent fashion,” said Mayor Richard Riordan in a prepared statement. “Absent creating a military base-like security operation--which is tough and seems wrong for most city public spaces--all employees, no matter where they work, must be ever vigilant about their safety.”

In recent weeks, city employees have been requested to wear their identification badges while on duty in City Hall. But Gonzelo Cureton, director of security for the General Services Department, said that even if the city imposed a series of stiffer security checks at public buildings, an employee could still fly off the handle.

“It wouldn’t have stopped what happened yesterday,” Cureton said.

The city has recently purchased four walk-through and eight hand-held metal detectors to be used in City Hall, City Hall East and City Hall South. Even when they are up and running, the protection will not be foolproof, officials said.

For example, the site of Wednesday’s shootings, Piper Tech, has no metal detector and isn’t slated to get one, Cureton said.

And because the city has been shifting its security officers during the past six months, Piper Tech, which required at least one guard to be on duty, has had to substitute Department of Transportation parking attendants during some shifts, Bacon said.

Bacon said metal detectors might not be appropriate at Piper Tech anyway because so many machinists and electricians carry tools in and out of the maintenance facility. And as an active employee, Woods, had a city identification badge granting him access, officials said.

“The tragedy is a searing reminder that workplace violence can occur anyplace, any time,” said Riordan, adding that he supports legislative efforts to increase security measures in city facilities. The measures, introduced by Councilman Rudy Svorinich, would result in placement of security guards and metal detectors at city facilities.

The mayor’s office said the proposals are scheduled to be discussed by the council Wednesday.

Woods, a military veteran, joined the city in 1983 as an assistant communications electrician after attending Los Angeles Trade Tech.

He was promoted once--in June, 1986--to a job title of communications electrician, working as a radio repairman on hand-held radios used by the Police and Fire departments, officials said. Woods earned $44,000 a year at the time of the shooting, according to union officials.

Outside of work, Woods was described as a loner who appeared to lead a quiet, nondescript life with a longtime girlfriend.

Since 1993, the couple had resided in a pleasant middle-class neighborhood of attractive single-family homes in Upland, about 45 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles.

Woods’ home is a two-story, tan stucco structure, sparkling clean and in good repair, with a landscaped front yard of close-cropped grass and shade trees.

Neighbors flanking the house say Woods was very quiet, almost to the point of being rudely oblivious to neighbors around him. In fact, neither of his two immediate neighbors even knew Woods’ name until after the shootings, when reporters descended on the well-maintained block.

“We moved in about the same time--October, ‘93--and I think I’ve only talked to him once since then,” said Scott Utz, 30. “He seemed like a decent guy, but I can’t say he was especially friendly or not because we just didn’t talk. He was totally unremarkable, one way or the other, except that he kept to himself.”

Woods was a member of a city ride-share program, and the car-pool van was often parked at his home in the evening, Utz said.

Cecilia Ahmadzai, who lived on the other side of Woods, said the suspect and his girlfriend never exchanged a word with her.

“They wouldn’t even look at us,” she said. “There were opportunities for them to talk, and they never did. They never had any visitors. Nobody came to that house but those two, for two years.”

Woods and his girlfriend had resided in a modest Eagle Rock apartment complex where they also generally kept to themselves, manager Pamela Morgan said.

An elderly woman who lived in the apartment across the hall said Woods once lent her a television for three weeks while hers was being repaired, Morgan said.

But the stocky Woods did have a temper, the manager added.

“He and his girlfriend had problems--there was [verbal] fighting occasionally,” said Morgan. “We had to call the police a couple of times.”

When officers responded, Morgan said, Woods quieted down and no charges were filed.

Times staff writer Tom Gorman contributed to this story.