Report: Shooting suspect depressed about lost job
CARLSBAD, Calif. — An electronics technician suspected of wounding two girls after opening fire at a California elementary school fell into a deep depression after he was fired from an insurance company, an acquaintance said.
Bonnie Ramirez said suspected gunman Brendan O'Rourke was rooming with her son in Springfield, Ill., in 2002, when he tried to get O'Rourke help at a hospital, but nothing was done for him.
Her son asked him to move out and O'Rourke became angry.
Ramirez said O'Rourke began calling them 20 to 30 times a day. At one point, he telephoned 228 times over five days, she said.
"He was very, very disturbed," Ramirez, 68, told the San Diego Union-Tribune from her Springfield home in a story published Wednesday.
O'Rourke later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor telephone harassment and was sentenced to one year probation and fined $300, the newspaper said.
O'Rourke, 41, is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Vista Superior Court in connection with the Friday shooting at Kelly Elementary School. He was being held for investigation of attempted murder, possessing a firearm on school grounds, using explosives on school grounds and making explosives without a permit.
Police believe O'Rourke armed himself with a .357-magnum revolver, jumped a fence and opened fire toward the crowded playground. The two girls, ages 6 and 7, were each shot in an arm. Both were recovering.
Construction workers building a school cafeteria chased the gunman and held him until police arrived.
Carlsbad police said the walls of O'Rourke's apartment in Oceanside had been painted with the words "destroy" and "Christian," and other writing indicated he was angry with the insurance companies AIG and State Farm.
O'Rourke worked as a phone or computer technician at NTN Communications Inc., a video entertainment firm in Carlsbad that installs games and video equipment in bars and restaurants, police Lt. Kelly Cain said.
The business is about two miles from Kelly Elementary, which serves one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S., a generally crime-free area about a 30-minute drive north of San Diego known for its scenic beaches and luxury resorts.
Michele Hincks, vice president of marketing, confirmed O'Rourke's employment but declined to say what he did.
"We are cooperating fully with police, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the two little girls and all those at Kelly Elementary," she said.
Oceanside police records show officers were dispatched to O'Rourke's apartment three times this year over noise complaints. Each time he refused to answer the door and the noise stopped.