The husband of Anne Sleater, the AT&T employee killed during a shooting rampage at the Triad Center last year, has settled a wrongful death lawsuit that accused Triad Center operators of failing to provide adequate security.
"The agreement was reached several weeks ago," said Christopher Sleater's attorney, James Blanch, declining to discuss the settlement in detail due to a confidentiality agreement. "The court has approved the settlement and the case should be dismissed shortly. . . . Hopefully, the Sleater family will have closure."
Attorneys for the defendants — M&S Triad Center L.P. and Maeir & Seibel Inc., the building's landlords; La Salle LLC, the company that manages the building; and Allied Security Inc., the building's security provider — also declined to discuss the settlement but said the terms had been to their clients' satisfaction.
"We were looking forward to trial and the opportunity of having our client, Allied Security, vindicated at trial, but the settlement was a favorable option to resolve the matter," attorney Lynn Davies said.
Among its allegations, the lawsuit stated the building's owners and contractors had the duty to have in place an appropriate and reasonable security infrastructure to minimize damage in the event of a threat by an armed intruder.
Anne Sleater, 30, died Jan. 22, 1999, eight days after being shot in the head in her office on the fourth floor at the Triad Center. She had only recently returned to work as a human resources manager after giving birth six months earlier to the couple's first child.
Police and prosecutors say De-Kieu Duy, 24, who has a history of mental illness, legally purchased a 9 mm handgun from a West Valley gun shop on Jan. 14 and then took a bus to the Triad Center. She entered the lobby at KSL television at about 3 p.m. and allegedly fired numerous shots, injuring KSL building manager Brent Wightman.
Unable to enter KSL's newsroom, Duy then proceeded to other floors, police say, where she later confronted Sleater in her office and shot her in the head. Duy was then wrestled to the ground by Sleater's co-worker Ben Porter.
Duy, who told police she went to the building because she believed someone at KSL was harassing her, has been charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated murder. State psychiatrists have diagnosed her with paranoid schizophrenia.
On Monday, though state psychiatrists say she is making some progress, a judge ruled Duy still is incompetent to stand trial.
The suit says before Duy rode the elevator to the fourth floor that she stopped on the second floor and fired 12 shots into the hallway. On the fourth level, Duy made her way through the AT&T floor, checking doors until she found Sleater in her office with her door open, conducting an orientation with a new employee. Sleater tried to calm Duy, the suit says, but Duy shot her.
The suit says the landlords should have foreseen criminal activity at the building, including the possibility of an armed intruder, because the Triad Center is located in a high-crime area where previous acts of violence had occurred on or near the premises.
Also, a system should have been in place to shut down the elevators and to lock down stairwells, the suit states. Had a warning and lock-down system been in place, Duy would not have reached the fourth floor and Sleater would have had adequate warning to lock her office door.
"It's fair to say that it was a compromised settlement and that we don't admit anything," Davies said.
A separate lawsuit with similar claims filed by AT&T is scheduled for trial in October.
E-mal: hans@desnews.com