Masked Gunman Shoots School Administrator

A high-level administrator with the Los Angeles Unified School District was shot and wounded by a masked gunman who confronted him in the garage of the district’s downtown headquarters Monday morning and shouted his name before firing, authorities said.

Jim Samples, the district’s 47-year-old maintenance director, was pierced through the midsection by a bullet as he returned to his truck about 11:30 a.m., district officials reported. Samples, whose office is in leased space in a nearby high-rise, had just completed a practice run of the speech he was to give before the school board at its afternoon meeting. He was listed in serious but stable condition at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, but no surgery was considered to be necessary, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Los Angeles police late Monday were still looking for the gunman and said they had determined no motive for the shooting, the first ever at district headquarters.

Many employees heard the single shot, and word of the attack spread quickly as buildings filled with Los Angeles Police Department officers searching for the suspect.

Samples managed to make his way to his truck, leaving a trail of blood smudges and drops in the garage. He drove himself up three levels to the open-air parking lot, where he hailed a district employee.

A doctor who performs tuberculosis tests for the district’s personnel division treated Samples until paramedics arrived, district spokesman Brad Sales said.

Samples told police the gunman was 5-foot-9 to 6 feet tall and was wearing green pants and either a ski mask or Halloween mask. There were no other witnesses, police said.