Fallen LA County Firefighter Mourned at Vigil | Acton
AGUA DULCE (CNS) – As the Los Angeles County Fire Department mourned one of its own, an investigation continued Wednesday into what motivated an off- duty firefighter to walk into the agency’s Agua Dulce station and open fire, killing one colleague and critically injuring another before taking his own life at his burning Acton home.
The firefighter who was killed in the Tuesday morning shooting at the station was officially identified Wednesday as 44-year-old Tory Carlon, a 21- year veteran of the fire department. He was married with three daughters.
He was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting that occurred about 10:55 a.m. Tuesday at Fire Station 81 in the 8700 block of Sierra Highway, Chief Daryl Osby said. Carlon was shot multiple times in the upper body. A 54-year-old fire captain suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition with stable vital signs.
The gunman, an off-duty county firefighter, drove to his home in Acton about 10 miles from the station and appeared to set fire to the structure. He was later found dead in the home’s backyard of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
He has not been identified, nor has the fire captain who was wounded in the shooting.
Carlon’s brother, Brent, wrote on Facebook Tuesday: “I don’t post a lot of personal information on Facebook, but will everyone please keep our family in your prayers as my brother is the firefighter that was killed in the shooting in Agua Dulce today.”
County Fire Chief Daryl Osby struggled to maintain his composure Tuesday as he discussed the shooting.
“I stand here with a heavy heart,” Osby said. “Today is truly a sad day and a tragic day for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. And I stand here from the perspective that you see other people do, but I just never thought it would be me or our fire department family that would suffer this type of loss.
“… I recognize and we all recognize that the work that our firefighters and our firefighter-paramedics do is a dangerous and arduous profession. And many times they put their lives in danger to protect and serve others when they receive 911 calls for service. But yet, as a fire chief, I never thought that when our firefighters face danger that they would face that danger in one of our community fire stations.”
Carlon’s body was carried in a solemn procession overnight from the Agua Dulce fire station to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
Earlier Tuesday night, about 200 people attended a vigil in Acton, attended by residents and county fire department colleagues.
One firefighter said of Carlon: “When it comes to being a father, when it comes to being a fireman, when it comes to being a mentor, there was nobody that could parallel that.”
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