2 Are Shot to Death at Maintenance Yard

A Los Angeles city street worker who reportedly had been reprimanded for being late to work opened fire with an assault rifle on his boss and another coworker Thursday evening at a downtown maintenance yard, killing both, police said.

The suspect drove himself to the nearby Hollenbeck police station and turned himself in a short time later, Police Chief William J. Bratton said. Police found an AK-47 rifle in his car.

Sources said the suspect had been chastised in the morning for arriving late, and the dispute escalated throughout the day. Police believe the second victim might have been killed simply because he was there when the killer opened fire.

Both victims had worked for the Bureau of Street Services for more than 20 years, police said. The suspect also was a longtime worker. None of the men’s names were released.

The shooting occurred about 5 p.m. at a maintenance and asphalt-producing yard in the 2400 block of East Olympic Boulevard. Both men died at the scene.

There appeared to have been no witnesses; a crew returning to the maintenance yard office at the end of a shift discovered the bodies shortly before 6 p.m.

Authorities released no other details Thursday night.

Mayor James K. Hahn noted that city street services workers have been working 12-hour days, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., since storms began pounding Southern California. A city engineer died earlier this week when he fell into a widening sinkhole in Sun Valley.

“It’s been a very tough week, a very emotional week,” Hahn said at the shooting site. “It doesn’t seem like any issue that arises in the workplace should result in violence. It’s totally unexpected.”

Hahn said that earlier this week, he saw the supervisor who was killed Thursday working in Glassell Park at the scene of a mudslide.

“The crew was out and they were in great spirits. It just makes it all the harder.”

Workers based at the facility perform a range of street-maintenance services, including curb reconstruction and pothole filling. They also manufacture asphalt there, officials said.

Volunteer members of the city’s crisis response team went to the scene to counsel any workers or family members who had seen or heard news reports of the shootings and gone to the maintenance yard.

Team manager Jeffrey Zimerman said the group planned to remain at the yard until about midnight. He said the city also planned to send a psychologist to the site today to help employees cope with the loss of their co-workers.

Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein contributed to this report.