Angry city worker kills 4 supervisors

July 19, 1995: A city electrician -- upset over a poor performance review and worried that he might be fired -- shot to death four of his supervisors at the C. Erwin Piper Technical Center just east of downtown Los Angeles.

Willie Woods, 42, arrived at work as usual at Piper Tech and argued about his review. Then he went to get a 19-shot Glock semiautomatic pistol and began methodically hunting down his victims, killing two in cubicles, one in an office and one in a hallway.

One of Woods’ victims was Anthony J. Gain, 78, the office supervisor. Gain had worked for the city of Los Angeles for 53 years and was its most senior employee. He had continued working years after he could have retired and drawn a pension equal to his salary.

Gain had “been working essentially for free,” Phil Henning, the city’s assistant personnel director told The Times. Convicted of four murders, Woods was sentenced in 1997 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.