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MORGAN HILL — The two men gunned down at the Ford Store were friendly, outgoing family men — “you wouldn’t find anything negative about either one,” a coworker said.
They were everything their killer wasn’t.
Brian Light, 59, the service director, was the father of two grown sons and loved the outdoors and adventure. He was a boss and mentor to Xavier Souto, 38, the parts manager at the dealership who worked the front counter. He would have lunch with his coworkers and talk about trips with his family and was steeped in his local Portuguese community.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Brandon Ferrigno, 26, a former employee of the Ford Store. “When I first heard about it, I broke down crying. These people are like family to me.”
Since Tuesday’s shooting — the Bay Area’s worst workplace killing since 2011 — family, friends and neighbors are trying to come to terms with the shocking loss. Steven Leet, who was fired late Tuesday afternoon from his job stocking shelves and retrieving parts, returned and shot Souto at point-blank range.
Light — who was in his office with Souto at the time — immediately tackled Leet to the ground, police say, but was hit multiple times when the shooter managed to fire off several shots. Leet, who was known as quiet and a loner, then walked across the parking lot, sat down on the curb and shot himself in the head, they said.
All three men were from San Jose. The two victims lived across town from each other, Light in a nicely kept townhouse near the Campbell border and Souto in a tidy bungalow off Alum Rock Avenue in San Jose’s “Little Portugal” neighborhood. He spent Father’s Day carrying a red flag in a parade at the Portuguese Festa.
In Light’s complex, some neighbors were just learning the news Wednesday afternoon. Sergio Cortez, who lives a few doors down, choked up.
“That’s just — wow,” he said. “We’d take walks to the pool here and he’d always wave to my son. He’s one of those people — he would give you the shirt off his back to help you.”
Light worked on his cars, motorcycle and all-terrain vehicles in his garage along the driveway the neighbors shared and would often offer to help others with repairs.
“He was a really generous, nice guy. He’d do anything for anybody,” said Bruce Fleming, who lived two doors down. “He was always on the go. He had a cabin up north. He always had a story.”
Fleming’s wife, Donna, said she’s “still trying to wrap my head around it. He was the sweetest guy, very jovial, fun-loving.”
During a news conference Wednesday, Morgan Hill Police Chief David Swing said that Light had 30 years’ experience in the industry and was recruited last year to head up the Ford Store’s Morgan Hill dealership.
“He worked to train the next generation,” Swing said, and called him “nothing short of a hero” for trying to stop Leet from hurting anyone else.
Before joining the Morgan Hill dealership, Light had worked at Sunnyvale Ford, where owner Steve Fuentes lowered the flag to half staff after the shooting. Fuentes gathered all his employees together Wednesday to remember Light.
“He was very, very gregarious, had a very infectious personality, the type of person that was never too big for the moment,” Fuentes said. “If he needed to get on his hands and knees to fix something, he would be the first guy to do it.
“He was just one of these people who would walk in with a smile and light up a room, somebody you could very easily approach, somebody that was easy to talk to.”
Police say that after Leet was fired, he sat in his car for about a half hour before returning to the service department, concealing two handguns in his clothes. He lingered around his work station and outside Light’s office for upwards of an hour before walking into the office and shooting the two supervisors. Police who reviewed security camera footage said it was unclear and “very strange, weird” why Leet had lingered, that maybe he “didn’t want to let go.”
“That was concerning to Brian and Xavier,” said Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Bill Norman, and at one point Light made contact with Leet at his workstation.
“Instead of escorting him out,” Norman said, “they probably felt sorry for him.”
Leet did not appear threatening or violent in the security footage, Norman said, and it was clear there was no indication that Leet was armed.
At Souto’s blue house, several friends and family members gathered on Wednesday. Visitors, some bringing flowers, were greeted by Souto’s dogs at the door. When reporters approached, the family shooed them away, asking to grieve in private.
On Souto’s Facebook page, he is often seen with a big smile surrounded by family, including his son, and friends.
“We talked about recipes for the smoker or the challenges of parenting or if a certain part was available,” Tim Kasden, who also works at the dealership, wrote on Souto’s Facebook page. He is pictured with Souto and Souto’s son at a 49ers football game. “My heart will never be quite the same.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for the family of Light and Souto.
