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By Vickie Chachere (AP)

SEMINOLE - The longtime boyfriend of a recently fired real-estate partner walked into her old office and opened fire Thursday, killing one person and wounding another before killing himself, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.

Sheriff’s spokesman Tim Goodman said James A. Webb, 56, of Largo, fired four or five shots inside ERA Professional Realtors on Seminole Boulevard at about 2:40 p.m.

Tracey Eugene Sells, 42, a partner in the office, was killed. A woman was wounded and taken to Bayfront Medical Center in nearby St. Petersburg, where she was in stable condition, Goodman said. She was not publicly identified.

Webb was dead inside the business when deputies stormed the building, located in a strip mall along a busy thoroughfare, Goodman said.

Webb and Zelma Kougle lived together for the past 20 years. Kougle had been a partner in the business until 2½ years ago, when she was bought out. She continued to work there until the other partners recently decided that she would be fired, Goodman said.

Webb had been unemployed for the past five years and had some health problems, Goodman said. He didn’t know what those health problems were.

Goodman said Webb entered the real estate office and told three people there to “get out.” He then went into the office where Sells and the woman were working. He got into an argument with them and then shot them both, Goodman said.

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More than half of all working Americans don’t think a workplace injury will happen to them, according to a study released by Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance (MEM). Some 64 percent disagreed with the statement that a workplace injury will happen to them, and 53 percent said the odds are slim that a work injury will leave them permanently disabled. “Many employees adopt the ‘It won’t happen to me’ attitude when it comes to workplace safety,” states Steve Holmes, MEM loss prevention manager. But statistics show otherwise, he says. “In 2001, 3.9 million people experienced a disabling injury. Employees need to understand that they are not immune to the devastating effects [of work injuries].”

Nearly three out of four employees surveyed admitted that they could be more safety conscious at work-and more than 95 percent say they should take a more proactive role in ensuring that injuries don’t occur. Most respondents placed responsibility for safety in management’s hands, with 95.7 percent saying employers are responsible for creating a safe environment for employees. “These numbers are particularly troublesome,” Holmes concludes. “They show that employees understand the need for workplace safety, but are not willing to take responsibility to ensure a workplace injury doesn’t happen to them or a coworker.” Complete survey results are available at www.men-ins.com.

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