Man Shoots Co-Workers

 
Los Angeles: Yesterday afternoon, February 24, 2005, at about 5:30 p.m., a Los Angeles city workman, Thomas Sampson, walked into a field office of the Los Angeles Bureau of Public Works, south of downtown, and shot his supervisor and a co-worker, killing them both.
The field office was located at 2474 E. Olympic Boulevard. The victims were 54-year-old Rene Flores, Sampson’s supervisor, and 49-year-old Ricardo Garris, Sampson’s co-worker. Both victims were discovered by a co-worker who had returned to the work site.
Detectives learned that Sampson and his supervisor, Rene Flores, had a phone conversation regarding Sampson being late for work. Following the counseling, Sampson abandoned his city-owned work truck on the 10 freeway in West Los Angeles and took a bus to where he had parked his personal car. Sampson drove home, changed from his work clothes into a suit, armed himself with an assault rifle, drove to 2474 E. Olympic Blvd, and waited for Flores to return to work. Sampson confronted Flores inside the office and shot him. Sampson also shot Ricardo Garris, a co-worker, who just happened to be in the office at the time.
Sampson left the Street Services site, drove to Hollenbeck Police Station and surrendered to officers. Police recovered the assault rifle at the time of Sampson’s surrender.
Sampson was arrested and booked for the murders of his co-workers.
If you have any information that could assist in this investigation, please contact Newton Homicide Detectives at 323-846-6556. On weekends and during off-hours, please call the Detective Information Desk’s 24-hour toll-free number at 1-877-LAWFULL (1-877-529-3855).
This news release was prepared by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Section at 213-485-3586.