On July 19, 1995, James Walton, 60, was killed in a workplace shooting at the Piper Technical Center in Los Angeles. Walton was one of four long-term employees in the city’s General Services Communications Department who were shot after a confrontation with a coworker, Willie Woods, following a negative performance evaluation.

Two victims were shot on the ground floor in their cubicles; the attacker then went to the basement and killed the remaining two. Two police officers who happened to be in the building on an unrelated matter apprehended Woods as he tried to flee.

Woods was charged with multiple counts of murder; the trial record includes testimony about prior conflicts and increasingly erratic behavior by Woods.