EDITORIAL: A tragedy that likely could have been prevented

After the shooting death of a city of Las Vegas employee at the hands of a co-worker this month, some observers have questioned the municipality’s firearms policy. They’re looking in the wrong direction.

Metro police have arrested 31-year-old Brysen Kim in connection with the June 12 shooting that killed Joey McLean, 41, at a downtown maintenance yard. Both men were city maintenance employees. Witnesses told police that the two men were arguing when Kim took out a weapon and shot McLean. Kim then called 911 and told the operator that McLean had threatened him.

At a news conference last week, Mayor Shelley Berkley defended city policy, which allows municipal employees who have concealed carry permits, or whose jobs require firearms, to pack heat while on the clock. Workers can be disciplined for displaying or wielding their weapons without cause.

“We follow state law,” Mayor Berkley said, “and state law allows concealed carry. Whether I think that’s great or not is irrelevant. We can pass any ordinance we want, but if it is in contradiction with state law, state law will prevail.”

Indeed, a more pressing concern in this unfortunate case is that city officials apparently let a longtime feud simmer to a boil for months without taking concrete steps to end it.

According to the arrest report, the two men had been engaged in a number of run-ins, with the dispute having been “brewing for approximately six months, all of which involved” the city’s Human Resources Department. A co-worker of the men told police that “Brysen (Kim) was a good person and always friendly, but Joey (McLean) was a nuisance and often caused problems in the workplace causing friction within the team and company.”

The pair’s supervisor told investigators that he would take complaints from the men “and email his supervisors, along with HR, outlining some of the issues.” He estimated this had happened five or six times. The supervisor said that McLean was a “complicated worker” who had recently come back to his job after being put on a 15-day administrative leave — which is typically paid — for refusing to work.

McLean didn’t deserve his fate, and there are various sides to every dispute. More details will certainly emerge as the case moves forward. But it’s difficult to envision some of the behavior described to police being tolerated in the private sector. A two-week vacation for refusing to work? Concerns about the city’s firearms policies are well and good, but the more pressing question: What does it take to get fired by the city of Las Vegas?