The parents of Tory Carlon — the firefighter killed in the Station 81 shooting in Agua Dulce earlier this year — have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the estate of the man who killed him.
Filed by Carlon’s parents, Larry and Bonnie, on Tuesday, the lawsuit requests unspecified damages for assault and battery, negligence and wrongful death following the shooting that killed their 41-year-old fire specialist son on June 1.
The lawsuit directly names the estate of Patrick Tatone, the shooter, and said the shooting stemmed from a “long standing job-related workplace dispute with (Tatone).”
The suit alleges that on the morning of the shooting, Tatone returned to their shared workplace — both men worked at the firehouse located at 8710 Sierra Highway as fire engineers, but on different shifts — following a shift change, and killed Carlon.
Investigators believe Tatone then returned to his home, and set it ablaze before then fatally turning the gun on himself.
“Defendants, Jonathan Patrick Tatone (Deceased), and DOES 1 through 200’s, conduct was so vial, base, contemptible, miserable, wretched, or loathsome that it is looked down upon and despised by ordinary decent people,” the lawsuit reads.
The actual names of “Does” listed were not explicitly stated, as according to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs are still attempting to identify all those who were “performing acts within the course and scope of their authority and employment” and should be held responsible.
The killing of Carlon resulted in a widespread period of mourning and remembrance throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. His daughter, a senior at Saugus High School at the time of the shooting, was escorted into her graduation ceremony at College of the Canyons on June 3 by hundreds of her father’s former colleagues.
A candlelight vigil was held in Agua Dulce on the same day as the shooting, and a large procession of first responders attended a flag ceremony honoring the fallen firefighter at Station 131 in Palmdale on June 15.
“This loss is extremely heartbreaking and tough, but also what remains in the hearts of many of us is Tory and how fondly we remember him for the man that he was,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said during the memorial service held at the Forum in Inglewood June 17.
The complaint filed this week lists three causes of action that would cover the medical, legal and emotional loss suffered by the Carlon family, the complaint reads. A previous creditors claim for $40 million was made by the family against the Tatone estate, but was ultimately shut down on Sept. 7 by the defendants.
Los Angeles County Fire Department officials were unavailable to comment on the lawsuit as of the publication of this story.
