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The Florida Times-Union
October 6, 2002
Author: Veronica Chapin, Times-Union staff writer
The two state supervisors shot by a disgruntled worker Sept. 26 at a Riverside Avenue office building have been released from Shands Jacksonville.
Philip Thoma, 43, and Don Steiner, 50, were initially listed in critical condition. The two men are now at home and spending time with their families.
“He’s doing fine and we want to put it behind us,” said Steiner’s wife, Joyce. She declined further comment.
Police said employee Wayne L. Horowitz entered the office housing employees of the Department of Health’s Radiation Control Division about 9 a.m. and shot the two men at least two times. He then turned the gun on himself.
Horowitz, who police said was unhappy and felt like people working with him didn’t like him, shot himself twice and died at the scene. He had traces of Prozac in his urine but not his blood at the time of his death, according to autopsy results.
The three men worked for a state regulatory division that checks X-ray machines and other radiological equipment used at Northeast Florida hospitals.
According to the health department’s personnel files, Horowitz was hired by the department in 1993. On his last evaluation in January, he was rated as meeting performance standards. There are no disciplinary issues in his file.
Ryan McCarthy, 19, was shot about 1 a.m. while he and friends were sitting in a car in the 3200 block of Park Street on the Westside. No one else was injured, police said.