Steelworker Forced to Retire Held After Doctor Is Slain
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PITTSBURG, Calif. — A 25-year-old steelworker who had been recommended for medical retirement after a foot injury walked into the company doctor’s office with a shotgun and killed him, authorities said.
Robert Jimenez of Antioch shot Dr. John Irion in the head and chest Thursday, said Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Lt. Telford Terry. “He set the shotgun down and waited for the arrival of sheriff’s deputies,” Terry said.
Irion, 63, was pronounced dead at his office at the USS-POSCO Steel plant.
He had recommended that Jimenez be placed on medical retirement after a grinding wheel fell on Jimenez’s foot at work, crushing it and causing a severe disability that made him miss work frequently, Terry said. “Apparently he was going to be retired and he didn’t want to be retired.”
Jimenez was taken to the county jail in Martinez and booked for investigation of murder.
“We’re just in shock,” said Calvin Burgess, one of Jimenez’s foremen. He said plant officials met Wednesday to decide whether Jimenez should return from disability to take on a “light job” of teaching new roll grinders.
“But it didn’t work out, and the company decided against it,” he said.
Company spokesman Earl MacIntyre declined additional comment.
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