A little more than three years ago, L.A. County firefighter Tory Carlon was shot and killed by a coworker at Fire Station 81 in Agua Dulce, an incident that left another firefighter paralyzed.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a settlement with the family of Carlon for $7.2 million after a pair of lawsuits alleged that the shooter, Jonathan Tatone, had displayed warning signs prior to the incident.
Tatone, a fire specialist during his time with the Fire Department, was found dead at his Acton home on June 1, 2021, hours after shooting Carlon and Arnoldo Sandoval, who survived but was left paralyzed. Tatone is believed to have set his home on fire before fatally shooting himself.
“Nothing can help ease the pain or fill the void left by Tory,” 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the Santa Clarita Valley, said in a prepared statement. “I will continue honoring both his memory and brave service to our Los Angeles County Fire Department.”
A lawsuit filed in January 2022 by Heidi Carlon alleged that Tory Carlon and others had warned the department of “unhinged and dangerous” behavior by Tatone even in the days leading up to the shooting. The parents of Tory Carlon had also filed suit.
Attorney fees had reached nearly $600,000 prior to the settlement agreement being reached, according to a letter from the county’s legal counsel recommending approval of the settlement.
The county previously settled with Sandoval last year for $2.575 million.
An attorney for Sandoval told The Signal after his client settled that the former fire captain “still feels there’s work to do.”
“He wants to do anything and everything he can to make sure this never happens again,” said Rick Kinnan of Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack, who represented Sandoval in his lawsuit against L.A. County.
“We are grateful that the county agreed to settle this tragic case,” Kinnan wrote in a statement released by the firm, which also noted past attempts by Sandoval and Carlon to make their superiors aware of their concerns about the shooter.
“Unfortunately, no action was taken despite the warning signs of real trouble ahead,” he added. “Hopefully, this case sends a clear message that action must be taken once the warning signs are there to prevent violence in the workplace.”
An attorney for the Carlon family was not immediately available on Tuesday for comment.
The Board of Supervisors addressed firefighter trauma at a meeting a few weeks after the incident. Barger noted at the time that many firefighters were separated from their families while working increased hours and multiple shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Strategies outlined in Barger’s motion to address workplace trauma included planned mental health visits with Fire Department personnel and their families, analyzing workers compensation treatment tools, reducing the frequency of staff recall, reducing vacancies, providing peer support groups and streamlining communications, among others.
