The mother of a Los Angeles County Fire Department engineer who was slain in 2021 by an engineer colleague at the Agua Dulce station house will have additional representation in her ongoing lawsuit against Los Angeles County and the estate of her son’s killer.
On Monday, Chatsworth Superior Court Judge Gary Micon appointed a guardian ad litem to advocate on behalf of Bonnie Carlon, the mother of the late Tory Carlon, who is 84 years old and has dementia. A guardian ad litem is a court-appointed representative who acts in a minor or incapacitated person’s best interests, conducting investigations and making recommendations to the court.
The judge also named Bonnie Carlon’s son, Brent Carlon, to substitute as a plaintiff in the case for her husband, Larry Carlon, who died in November of heart failure at age 86.
Larry and Bonnie Carlon filed the suit in October 2021 against the county and the estate of Jonathan Patrick Tatone, seeking unspecified damages as well as compensation for funeral and burial expenses.
Tory Carlon, then 44, was working at Station No. 81 on Sierra Highway on June 1, 2021, when the 45-year-old Tatone, who also was an engineer but was off duty, arrived and an argument ensued, authorities said. Tatone subsequently shot Carlon, who later died, and county Fire Capt. Arnie Sandoval, who survived.
Tatone departed to his Acton residence, which he set afire before shooting himself to death.
“The defendant had a longstanding, job-related workplace dispute with the decedent,” the plaintiffs’ court papers state.
The plaintiffs have suffered financial losses as well as the comfort and companionship Tory Carlon provided them, the plaintiffs’ court papers state. Trial of the lawsuit is scheduled for March 9, 2026.
The county previously agreed to pay $7.2 million to Tory Carlon’s widow, Heidi Carlon; her adult daughter, Joslyn Carlon; and Heidi Carlon’s two other daughters, who are both minors, to settle that part of the consolidated lawsuit.