Sheriff’s Employee Is Shot by Gunman : Officers in Woodland Hills Wound Attacker Who Later Kills Self

A civilian employee of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was shot and critically wounded Tuesday when he confronted a man in the parking lot of a Woodland Hills high school, authorities said.

The gunman--who was then wounded by one of two California Highway Patrol officers who happened by the Taft High School parking lot and witnessed the 2:50 a.m. shooting--fled from the scene but later killed himself while holed up in a nearby office building, authorities said.

Anthony Rotella, 21, of Woodland Hills was shot twice in the head during the parking lot scuffle. A sheriff’s community services officer who handles administrative duties at the Santa Clarita Valley station, Rotella was in critical but stable condition Tuesday after surgery at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

The gunman was identified as Zalai Tibor, 30, a Hungarian immigrant who moved to North Hollywood from his native country less than a year ago. Investigators said they had not determined why Tibor was at the school parking lot or why he was carrying a gun.

Before the shooting, Rotella had walked out of a supermarket across from the school and may have seen something suspicious, authorities said. Investigators believe that Rotella, who was unarmed and not wearing a uniform, drove his Chevrolet Blazer into the school parking lot and confronted Tibor.

“Something must have gotten his attention to make him go over there,” Los Angeles Police Lt. Charles Massey said.

In the school parking lot, Rotella and Tibor began to fight, possibly for control of a gun that Tibor pulled out, authorities said.

CHP Officers Steve Icay and Steve Tabor were on routine patrol when they passed the high school and saw the two men fighting, authorities said.

Fired Two Shots

“As they were putting a spotlight on the two men, they observed one down on the ground and the other standing up,” CHP Officer Dave Grajeda said. The officers saw the man standing up fire two shots, wounding the man on the ground, Grajeda said.

The CHP officers took cover behind their patrol car and ordered the gunman to surrender, but the man ran to Rotella’s Blazer and jumped inside, Grajeda said.

When the vehicle did not start, the man leaned out its door and pointed the gun at the two officers, Grajeda said. Icay fired once, striking the gunman in the chest. The gunman ducked back inside the Blazer, got it started and sped across the parking lot as Icay fired five more times, authorities said.

The two officers did not chase the Blazer but radioed for backup and went to the aid of Rotella.

Fled into Office Building

Minutes later, Los Angeles police found the Blazer abandoned on a street behind the school. Authorities said other officers then spotted Tibor running across the 20300 block of Ventura Boulevard and into a two-story office complex, where he roamed an open courtyard looking for an unlocked door.

“He ran all around the place,” Massey said. “There was a trail of blood.”

Police followed the trail to a restroom at the rear of the courtyard. They heard a shot from the restroom and, when they entered, found Tibor dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, police said.