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San Diego MTS confirms shooting victims' identities

Two employees were pronounced dead at the scene, and a third employee was placed on life support and died at the University of California San Diego Medical Center.

March 25, 2009
2 min to read


The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is confirming the names of two of the three employees involved in the shooting incident at the MTS Bus facility located at 100 16th Street during the early morning hours of March 24. 

 

The two employees who were pronounced dead at the scene are:

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-Ben Mwangi. Mr. Mwangi was a maintenance foreman who has worked for MTS since 2007. He was previously a Maintenance Supervisor at National City Transit, which also operated MTS services. Mr. Mwangi was 37 years old.

 

-Lonnie Glasco. Mr. Glasco was a Revenue Technician who worked at MTS for 29 years. Mr. Glasco was 47 years old.

 

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, a third employee later died as a result of the shooting. Michael Stevenson, 55, an MTS mechanic for 31 years, was taken to University of California San Diego Medical Center. Stevenson was placed on life support and died at 3 p.m., the Medical Examiner's Office said.

 

“This has been a tragic day for the victims of this incident, and for their families and friends,” said Paul Jablonski, chief executive officer of MTS. “Our hearts and prayers go out to them. This has also been a tragic day for the entire MTS family and for me personally. We are doing all we can for them, and have begun offering employees grief counseling.”

 

MTS has notified all employees that a variety of services will be available to help them deal with the grief and trauma surrounding this event. Grief counselors will conduct group and individual sessions at MTS. Counseling will be available on an ongoing basis.

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“It is important that we are as proactive as possible with our employees,” Jablonski said. “The pain won’t end today and neither will our efforts to help our employees.” 

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