From the San Diego Union-Tribune via Pechanga:
LAKESIDE — A Barona Gaming Commission employee who was fired last month walked into a commission office armed with a shotgun Tuesday morning and shot and killed a manager, then turned the gun on himself, authorities said.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore identified the shooter in the murder-suicide as Donnell Roberts, 38, of El Cajon. He worked as an investigator for the commission before he was terminated in November.
Roberts’ ex-wife, Maria Small of Racine, Wis., said Roberts was a former Marine who was discharged from the service in 1994 after serving in the Gulf War. She described him as a man who was sometimes violent and “always angry.”
The name of the victim was not immediately released.
The bodies of both men were found about 2:30 p.m. inside the manager’s office, Gore said.
The sheriff said that Roberts drove a red truck to the gaming commission building about 10 a.m. and went inside with the shotgun slung over his shoulder. Earlier, authorities had said the weapon was believed to have been a rifle.
Roberts told three secretaries who were in a front office to leave, then went into the manager’s office. Another 13 to 15 gaming commission employees who were also in the building left through a back door.
After they left, three to four shots were heard, Gore said.
Sheriff’s Department deputies, tribal police and California Highway Patrol officers surrounded the building and a SWAT team was called. Authorities tried unsuccessfully to reach Roberts, and at 2 p.m., they set off a flash-bang grenade. At 2:33 p.m., two robots were sent inside, and the bodies were located, Gore said.
The SWAT team then entered the building, the sheriff said.
Gore said it was only a matter of moments from the time Roberts entered the building until the shots were fired. The unharmed commission employees who fled were very shaken, he said.
“Obviously they’re very distraught … it has been a very traumatic day for all of them,” the sheriff said.
Gore said authorities confirmed within an hour after the shooting occurred that at least one person was still inside with the shooter. It was not known at that time if either was alive.
Casino patrons were not evacuated during the incident, but the parking garage and main entrance to the casino were closed for about an hour as the initial investigation began.
Rick Salinas, general manager of Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino, said that he was not aware of any problems with Roberts.
“He was a professional. He did his job, and from my understanding he did it well … my interactions with him were positive,” Salinas said.
Roberts lived alone in an apartment on Emerald Avenue in El Cajon since September. Six sheriff’s deputies showed up at the apartment complex Tuesday afternoon to question Roberts’ neighbors, but didn’t find anyone who knew him.
Small said that Roberts’ bad temper contributed to their divorce in 2005 after 13 years of marriage. She has custody of one child with him, daughter Alysa, 12.
“He was always angry,” Small said. “It was more of a sadness. He was never happy with anything – never.”
Small, an 18-year Navy veteran who is now remarried, said she had last talked with Roberts on Christmas Day.
“He told me, ‘I lost my job but I have something in the works.’ I didn’t know what that meant,” she said, adding that she thought Roberts sounded “phony,” as if he was falsely confident.
“I knew there was that rage there,” she said. “I just didn’t think he would go through with it.”
Roberts, whose middle name is Quontez according to court records, filed for bankruptcy in June 2003. Small said he had six other children, and that his difficulties paying child support contributed to the bankruptcy filing.
In that filing, Roberts listed assets of $32,837 and liabilities of $98,603. He listed five children: Donnell Jr., 10; daughters Kapri, 11; LaDonna Jolley, 12; Alysa, then 5; and a stepdaughter, Breana Estrella, 9.
Small said that Roberts was sometimes violent toward her, and once slashed the tires of a vehicle owned by a former boss who fired him when he worked for a security company.
“He said he wanted to kill him and all this and all that,” Small said. “I was like, what the heck are you talking about?”
Small said she met Roberts in 1993 when he was in the Marine Corps. He was discharged a year later and they moved to San Diego County in 1996.
She said Roberts started as a security guard at Barona, then moved up to work as a lead investigator with the Barona Gaming Commission.
In an e-mail, “he sounded happy about having that job,” Small said. “A month later, I found out that he is not working there any more.”
Small said that Roberts had an unhappy childhood, and that his father committed suicide when Roberts was 10 years old. His father was a police officer in Cambridge, Md., at the time, she said.
The Barona Gaming Commission is an independent regulatory body that oversees operations at the casino and resort. It has 30 to 40 employees to issue licenses to the casino’s 3,000 employees and investigate allegations of wrongdoing, Salinas said.
A recent investigation in which Roberts was involved was typical and he acted professionally, Salinas said. Casino employees were suspected of giving away too many complimentary amenities, like free meals and hotel stays.
The commission also investigates complaints from customers and takes up issues brought up by management, Salinas said.
The commission, like the casino management, answers to the tribal government.
The Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino is one of the state’s oldest, having opened in 1983 and expanded in 2002. It has 2,000 slot machines, a golf course, a hotel, several restaurants, a conference center and a wedding pavilion.
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