The brother of a Los Angeles County Fire Department engineer who was slain by an engineer colleague at the Agua Dulce station house is now the sole plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit against Los Angeles County and the estate of his sibling’s killer.
On Friday, Chatsworth Superior Court Judge Gary Micon named Brent Carlon, brother of the late Tory Carlon, as the successor in to his 85-year-old mother, Bonnie Carlon, who resigned from the family trust in September 2024 due to her dementia. She died Aug. 11.
Larry Carlon, father of Brent and husband of Bonnie, died last Nov. 15 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.