Tax Executive Shot Twice at Torrance Office

A vice president of a major Torrance tax preparation company was in very critical but stable condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on Saturday night after undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds he suffered Friday.

Jonathan Baron was shot by a lone gunman in the parking garage at the company’s new high-rise headquarters at Torrance and Hawthorne boulevards shortly after 6 p.m. Friday, Torrance police said.

They said they had no motive in the attack on Baron, 36, of Redondo Beach. He is an executive of CCH Computax Inc.

Torrance Police Lt. Mike Dersham said, “Robbery was definitely not a motive” because Baron “had all of his property.” Police said Baron was returning to his car when he was confronted by the gunman.

They said they were looking for an Asian male, 18 to 25 years old, with black hair and glasses, who was believed to be driving a 1978 to 1982 white four-door General Motors auto.

Thomas G. Rolfe, president of CCH Computax, said he had been told that three shots were fired at Baron while he stood on the first floor of the parking structure and that he was hit once in the chest and once in the leg.

“We have absolutely no idea” why Baron was shot, Rolfe said. “We have no understanding of why. There doesn’t appear to be any motive on the surface. The reaction of most of our people is that it was some kind of a drive-by.”

Rolfe said Baron is vice president in charge of product development at Computax, a computerized income tax processing company. Baron has worked for the firm for 15 years.

“He’s a first-class individual all the way around,” Rolfe said.