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Plumber Shot & Killed on Service Call- Washington State

Steamhead
Steamhead Member Posts: 16,796
All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting

Comments

  • GW
    GW Member Posts: 4,691
    Horrible—I sometimes get an odd feeling when letting myself into someone’s place. If the spouse or whomever didn’t get the memo and certain conditions exist- not good. So sad 
    Gary Wilson
    Wilson Services, Inc
    Northampton, MA
    gary@wilsonph.com
  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 5,803
    I get gate codes, garage codes, alarm codes. I still yell into the house, "Don't shoot! Heating guy! Don't shoot!" Seems silly but you never know. 
    I've also gone into the wrong house. Same street name, number and town. Saw another company sticker on the equipment and beat feet. 
    MaxMercy
  • Dave Carpentier
    Dave Carpentier Member Posts: 586
    RIP and not an excuse.. but there's gotta be more to it. Was there an escalated argument ? Ya never know what the mental frame of mind is when there's a conflict.. best to calm it down and find a solution.
    30+ yrs in telecom outside plant.
    Currently in building maintenance.
  • Tinman
    Tinman Member Posts: 2,808
    I came out of house in the early 80’s, drove down the tree-lined curved driveway to find three cops pointing rifles at me. Homeowner forgot to turn off the alarm. 
    Steve Minnich
    In_New_Englandbucksnort
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,042
    That looks to be quite a house, for a disabled vet with a rap sheet.
  • MaxMercy
    MaxMercy Member Posts: 507
    HVACNUT said:

    I get gate codes, garage codes, alarm codes. I still yell into the house, "Don't shoot! Heating guy! Don't shoot!"

    I'm not in your trade, but also have to make home visits in my business on occasion. I was just at a guy's house who is disabled, and when I called him to tell him I'd be there in 15 minutes, he told me to just walk on in.

    I never do..

    I knocked, cracked the door open, announced myself with the additional "don't shoot!" (haha). It always gets a laugh but like you, there's some self-preservation involved.


    HVACNUTIn_New_England
  • MaxMercy
    MaxMercy Member Posts: 507
    edited May 2022
    For folks too lazy to watch videos (me), here's a quick breakdown:

    SPANAWAY, Wash. (AP) — A man has been charged with murder after a plumber called to the man's home south of Tacoma was shot and killed on Monday. Jacques Dothard, 55, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and five counts of unlawful position of a firearm on Wednesday in the incident that left Tom Lorezca dead, KING 5 reported. South Sound 911 received a report of shots fired at a home in Spanaway around 8:30 p.m. The caller reported they could see a body in a truck where they heard the shots fired.

    The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said Dothard called for a plumber because he had run over a drainpipe. When Lorezca arrived, Dothard accused him of hitting his gate, sheriff's officials said.

    Surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed Dothard walking up to Lorezca’s vehicle and firing seven shots, according to charging documents. Dothard retreated into his home and later surrendered, deputies said.

    Lorezca, 40, was pronounced dead by emergency crews.

    After the shooting, the suspect allegedly took a “bag of guns” to a nearby home and asked his neighbor to hold onto them. Six guns were later found at the neighbor’s home, deputies said. Investigators also found several empty and loaded magazines of different calibers, gun cases and a ballistic “military-style” vest with his last name duct-taped to it, charging documents said.

    According to the documents, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department received a welfare check request from the Veteran’s Crisis Line for Dothard on March 28. It was reported that Dothard called the crisis line regarding a dispute and that Dothard had threatened to kill his son, documents said.


    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2022-05-26/police-man-shoots-kills-plumber-he-called-for-job


    Personally, I think the guy was simply a metric size bag of nuts and snapped.
    PC7060mattmia2GGrossbucksnort
  • JakeCK
    JakeCK Member Posts: 1,356
    edited May 2022
    Crazy lunatic. Needs to be locked away for everyone's benefit.
    CLambMaxMercy
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 22,018
    MaxMercy said:

    For folks too lazy to watch videos (me), here's a quick breakdown:

    SPANAWAY, Wash. (AP) — A man has been charged with murder after a plumber called to the man's home south of Tacoma was shot and killed on Monday. Jacques Dothard, 55, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and five counts of unlawful position of a firearm on Wednesday in the incident that left Tom Lorezca dead, KING 5 reported. South Sound 911 received a report of shots fired at a home in Spanaway around 8:30 p.m. The caller reported they could see a body in a truck where they heard the shots fired.

    The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said Dothard called for a plumber because he had run over a drainpipe. When Lorezca arrived, Dothard accused him of hitting his gate, sheriff's officials said.

    Surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed Dothard walking up to Lorezca’s vehicle and firing seven shots, according to charging documents. Dothard retreated into his home and later surrendered, deputies said.

    Lorezca, 40, was pronounced dead by emergency crews.

    After the shooting, the suspect allegedly took a “bag of guns” to a nearby home and asked his neighbor to hold onto them. Six guns were later found at the neighbor’s home, deputies said. Investigators also found several empty and loaded magazines of different calibers, gun cases and a ballistic “military-style” vest with his last name duct-taped to it, charging documents said.

    According to the documents, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department received a welfare check request from the Veteran’s Crisis Line for Dothard on March 28. It was reported that Dothard called the crisis line regarding a dispute and that Dothard had threatened to kill his son, documents said.


    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2022-05-26/police-man-shoots-kills-plumber-he-called-for-job


    Personally, I think the guy was simply a metric size bag of nuts and snapped.

    A nut job with a house full of guns, how unusual.
    Meanwhile a hard working man is ripped from his family and community.
    RIP Tom Lorezca
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    ZmanAlan (California Radiant) ForbesSlamDunkIn_New_England
  • GGross
    GGross Member Posts: 1,022
    A plumber around here told a story one time that I can't do justice, would have been about 5 years ago. A very well to do customer was quite upset at how much this guy's boss had charged him for an install of some HVAC equipment, so he called in a service request for a leak. Obviously this service plumber had nothing to do with the HVAC install. Anyway homeowner starts freaking out at the plumber, he said it was really bad so he got out of the house and went toward his van to leave. That's when the guy yells something at the plumber which made him turn around, homeowner had a gun drawn. turns out the guy really had a leak and was not pleased the plumber was going to leave. Plumber was a volunteer firefighter so he had one of those radios on his belt, he told the homeowner the radio was live back to his home office and the cops were already on the way, not true, but the guy let him leave. This was an after hours weekend emergency call, neither the company or the plumber ever filed a police report. The company continued to work for the guy until at least last year when he told the story.

    Be safe out there
    MaxMercyIn_New_England
  • HomerJSmith
    HomerJSmith Member Posts: 2,425
    It's hard to understand!
  • SlamDunk
    SlamDunk Member Posts: 1,570
    Honestly, I am surprised this doesnt happen more often.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,159
    I'm not sure, @SlamDunk . The fraction of people -- overall -- who have significant mental problems -- such as may have been the case in this instance -- is really very small. And, while our support capabilities for these people are really pretty horrible (the US isn't alone in this regard, by the way), usually they do manage to get some help. What bothers me in this regard is that among the general population who presumably do not have PTSD the acceptance of pretty violent action seems to becoming more prevalent. Maybe it's just that I'm getting old, but when I was younger, for instance, road rage was unheard of. Getting in people's face at a restaurant was unheard of. Now? I wouldn't say it's commonplace, but it is encouraged in some circles and seems to be becoming more acceptable. Not Good.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    Alan (California Radiant) ForbesIn_New_Englandbucksnort
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 4,775
    Mixican said:

    Tom Lorezca was my longest lasting best friend. 30 years. He was the nicest guy you’d ever meet. Massive heart! He talked me through some of the darkest times of my life. He was always there cheering you on, wanting you to live your best life. This only happened a week ago. I’m really having a difficult time accepting this as reality. I check his Facebook everyday hoping it were all just a bad dream. But one thing I will say is Tom would never do anything to instigate an altercation. Especially one that would lead to having a gun drawn in any scenario. The peace of **** who murdered him was mental and I hope he burns in hell. I really wish I could light that flame! 

    All of us in the service industry feel and share your pain.

    Condolences on you loss
    MaxMercy
  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,276
    I'm so sorry for your loss, @Mixican. Thank you for sharing this with us.
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
  • SlamDunk
    SlamDunk Member Posts: 1,570
    @Jamie Hall Add to restaurants & road rage: air rage. You never heard of flight attendants getting sucker punched or passengers being duct taped to their seats before. But was pretty common recently. Maybe not so much more since mask mandates were dropped.
    Maybe "significant mental problems" is not a good qualifier. Maybe the qualifier is as low as anger management problems. It doesn't take much these days.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,512
    He lives on in you, @Mixican
    Retired and loving it.
  • clammy
    clammy Member Posts: 3,103
    What makes people react the way they do is at best some times stupidly amazing to me . In some cases the wrong buttons get pushed but going to the extreme and shooting some one is out of line ,personally stretching some out physically would be a better alternative then shooting them but it takes no guts to pull a trigger .
    I had a experience w a movie theater owner who freaked out on me durning a install because we could not finish due to a control issue . He had called the owners who he spoke to and bad mouthed us of course I got a ear full but they sent One of our service guys to take a look and supposedly the owner threatherned the service guy w a gun and told him to get it going or else . Of course he said he had to get a part and high tailed it out of there ,reporting back to the bosses and my name was cleared . The real issue was he want my crew to do a bunch of free work ,which was not included in the job which I refused to due . Big issue for him he wanted some free work and didn’t want to pay and I wasn’t t doing it .
    People are weird I always stick to my gut feeling about people , when it’s not setting right in my gut i.m outta there .theres never any sense dealing w irrational ,difficult people ,let some one else deal w them and move on . I,ve gotten rid of all and any of those type there’s just not enough time in life for those types .
    Over the years I ve work into the wee hours in some of the crappiest neighborhood in New Jersey where they would roll up the side walks at nite in fear they would be stolen . I never gave it a thought now a days I stick to working as local as I can and won’t even think of going anyplace over a 1/2 hour away ,it s just not worth it . As for dealing w people ,I’m up front and it’s a take it or leave it world there’s plently of others who will do the jobs so I let them .
    I stick to this in my head motto I’m not out to change the mechanical world just my little corner that’s it .
    Peace and good luck clammy
    Sorry for the lost Mixican and I hope the shooter spends his days behind some iron bars , uncomfortably till he is dead ,unfortunately we all will be paying for his legal and health care .
    R.A. Calmbacher L.L.C. HVAC
    NJ Master HVAC Lic.
    Mahwah, NJ
    Specializing in steam and hydronic heating
    GGross