Hundreds Honor Victim of Shooting

They stopped counting at 750, and still people flooded in Monday night to pay their respects to Paul E. White, 30, killed with three others Thursday by former Caltrans employee Arturo Reyes Torres, who was then killed by police.

For the memorial service, White’s family and friends used the enormous Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses here instead of the smaller one in Long Beach where he had regularly worshiped. They knew they would need every square inch, they said, because White had touched so many lives.

“He just loved people, and took the time to cultivate friendships. He was a special person; that’s why people were drawn to him,” said White’s uncle, Steve Westman of Mission Viejo. “We’ll miss him now because we’re alive, but we look forward to seeing him in the Resurrection.”

Many remembered White’s smile, his quirky, infectious sense of humor, and his desire to help others. Some took comfort in his faith, and in their own.

“Time won’t pass fast enough until the day I can see Paul again,” said David White, his older brother.

Steve Williams, an elder at the Long Beach congregation who presided over the memorial service, quoted the Apostle Paul when he said, “Man does not know his time, like fish that are taken in an evil net.”

“We need to take to heart the uncertainty of life,” Williams said. “He knew that none of us is promised tomorrow. Now even in death Paul is safe. He’s not in this wicked world. He’ll certainly be missed, but what a fine, fine future he has.”

Williams said after the service that the thoughts offered by the speakers, heartfelt as they were, weren’t enough to convey White’s character.

“But this will give some closure,” Williams said. “Now the grieving process can start.”

White was an equipment operator who was hired by Caltrans in 1990 and had just married in September. On Nov. 16, he transferred from the road crew office in Los Angeles to the Orange office.

Torres, who had been fired by Caltrans in June, carried an AK47 and other guns to the agency’s Batavia Maintenance Station in Orange on Thursday and fatally shot four employees. He injured two others, including an Orange police officer. Torres was shot and killed by Orange police in an exchange of gunfire.

Caltrans has set up a fund for families of the victims. Contributions may be sent to the California Transportation Foundation, P.O. Box 163453, Sacramento, CA 95816, or may be sent locally to the Caltrans District 12 office at 2501 Pullman St., Santa Ana, CA 92705. Checks should be made payable to the foundation, and should indicate “Batavia Employee Fund.”

Caltrans asked that any donation earmarked for a particular family be sent directly to them. Contact names and addresses will be made available as soon as they are known.