Co-Workers, Families Mourn the Loss of 2 Slaying Victims

Six days a week, John Nutting would return home from his job at Albertsons, open his Huntington Beach garage door and whistle as if he were Andy Griffith, star of his favorite old television show.

On Monday, all family and friends could do was look in the garage and grieve at the silence. Laid out before them were the trappings of Nutting’s hobbies: remote-controlled cars he raced; old radios and bicycles he restored; hardware he bought at garage sales; and a 1947 Chevy he had hoped to refurbish.

Nutting, 60, who had worked for Albertsons and a predecessor grocery chain for 43 years, was one of two store employees killed Sunday when Joseph Parker, who bagged groceries at the Irvine store, attacked them and three others with a sword. Co-worker Judith Fleming, 55 -- who, like Nutting, was nearing retirement -- was the other employee killed.

Law enforcement and hospital officials identified two of the surviving victims as Eva Marez of Orange, who worked as a clerk at the grocery store and suffered a cut to her arm, and customer Ryan Flanagan.

The third person injured, architect Thomas Peters of Irvine, underwent nine hours of surgery for wounds to his shoulder, forehead and hands, said Kathie Breck, who works with him at the Tustin firm of Himes, Peters, Jepson Architects.

“We’re concerned because his hands are his tools. That’s what he does to create his work. If he doesn’t have [use of his] hands, it will change his life forever,” Breck said. “So we’re hoping he recovers quickly.”

At Fleming’s home in Orange, tearful family and co-workers gathered to commiserate.

Fleming, who worked for the supermarket for 28 years, had planned to retire within a year to spend more time with David, her husband, whom she had met in junior high school, at their home and a cabin at Lake Havasu. Fleming “was very giving, always worried about everyone else,” Danny Reed, Fleming’s younger brother, told the Orange County Register on Sunday. Family members on Monday declined to comment further.

Albertsons spokeswoman Stacia Levenfeld said Chief Executive Larry Johnston met Monday with the families of the victims, as well as with store employees. Counselors will be available to employees when the store reopens today, she said.

At Nutting’s home Monday, family members fought tears, viewing the garage that framed much of his life.

He “had so many plans for his stuff,” said daughter Sheri Palmer. “I kept telling him [the time until his retirement] would go by fast. I couldn’t wait until he finally would have that time to spend here.”

Granddaughter Lindie Graves described Nutting as “handy and hilarious.”

Nutting, a father of five who also raised two grandchildren, was trying to clock in as much time as possible at work in order to retire. But when he could, he’d slip into the garage, where neighbors would seek his advice on various repair jobs and frequently end up settling down in front of the garage TV.

Neighbor Ralph Hoekstra described Nutting as “the official greeter of the neighborhood,” where he lived more than 30 years. Nutting met newcomers and organized the garage sale for the community, known as the White Hall tract.

“The whole neighborhood lost something Sunday,” said Hoekstra, a cabinetmaker who relied on Nutting’s garage sale finds for screws and hinges. “If you needed something moved, he’d move it. He was there.”

When Nutting left the garage, he would spend time playing practical jokes on family and co-workers.

On one April Fool’s Day, he rewired the light switch in his two grandchildren’s bedroom so they would hear scary sounds. And after years of joking on Christmas that the flat wrapped packages were basketballs, he gave his son-in-law a deflated basketball in a flat package.

At Albertsons, he would buy friends a sandwich for lunch, but slip in cardboard on top of the meat, Palmer said. Nutting worked five days a week at the Newport Beach store and one day at the Irvine store. As manager, he earned his employees’ respect and friendship.

“He was not just an incredible boss but an incredible friend,” said Luis Molina, 59, of Tustin, who met Nutting seven years ago.

“He was a very special man who always made sure I was enjoying my job,” Molina added.

Nutting had been a store manager but had recently become a clerk to rejoin the union, which would ensure better retirement benefits, his family said. Molina said he had to work two more years to qualify for retirement benefits.

“He was literally counting the hours until his retirement,” Hoekstra said. “He wanted to get started on restoring the ’47 Chevy.”

Two weeks ago, Nutting gathered his family in the frontyard and brought out his tripod.

“He told us, ‘We’d better take a portrait,’ ” said his daughter, Palmer. “He said it would never happen again.”

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Times staff writers Stuart Pfeifer, Kimi Yoshino, Denise Bonilla, Zeke Minaya and Daniel Yi contributed to this report.