Tray Poker didn’t give much thought to the chance encounter he had Nov. 29 with his former work lunch buddy at the sprawling campus of the VA Loma Linda Health Care System.
Poker was just arriving for work shortly after dawn that day, but his friend — Paul Alexander Warren, a former inventory management specialist at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Hospital — was no longer employed there. After exchanging pleasantries, the conversation quickly gravitated to the slaying of Warren’s former boss, VA Loma Linda Chief Supply Officer Joshua Watson, four days earlier.
“I asked him if he had heard the rumors,” Poker told the Southern California News Group, referring to speculation that a disgruntled co-worker might have killed Watson. “He said not to believe rumors because they were speculation. He then pointed at a warehouse supervisor walking by and said, ‘It could be him for all we know.’
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“Then he asked for my cellphone number and walked away,” said Poker, a finance technician at VA Loma Linda who has known Warren for about two years.
Less than two weeks later, Poker was stunned to learn he had been talking to Watson’s suspected killer.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced Dec. 11 that Warren, a 58-year-old Navy veteran who lives in the Mira Loma neighborhood of Jurupa Valley, had been arrested by Philadelphia police for the slaying.
“I was so shocked and couldn’t believe he did it,” said Poker, who added that he doesn’t know why Warren was at VA Loma Linda on the morning of their encounter at the campus parking garage.
Warren was taken into custody Dec. 9 by Philadelphia police on a fugitive warrant after he attempted to update his information to access the Naval Aviation Supply Depot in the city. He is being held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, which houses more than 1,900 inmates, pending extradition from Philadelphia to California.
Watson’s family has declined to comment on the slaying, other on a GoFundMe page for his two daughters that says he died from a “senseless act of violence.”
Authorities allege Warren used a knife to kill Watson in the work-related attack but haven’t released any information about how he was identified as a suspect or provided details of a motive.
However, for at least four months before the slaying, Warren had talked about his employment difficulties at VA Loma Linda during weekly lunches at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Redlands, complaining to Poker that his bosses wanted to fire him for unauthorized absences due to an arm injury.
Poker asked Warren why didn’t he request leave from the VA for the injury. Warren told him he suspected a leave would be denied because he had missed so much work for an unrelated back injury.
VA Loma Linda officials have confirmed Warren no longer works at the facility, but have not said when his employment terminated and whether he was fired or resigned. Poker said he has learned from several employees that Warren may have been let go for unexcused absences.
Although Warren claimed to have hurt his arm, Poker said he had never seen him in a sling prior to their parking garage encounter. He now wonders if Warren may have hurt his arm in an altercation with Watson, a 43-year-old former officer in the Marine Corps who was killed Nov. 25 in his Rancho Cucamonga home.
Poker, who lives in Beaumont, said it’s also suspicious that Warren borrowed $400 from a VA Loma Linda Transportation Department employee shortly after the homicide and believes he may have used the money to travel to his hometown of Philadelphia because he has relatives there.
While allegedly on the run, Warren posted several religious memes on the Facebook page of Poker’s father on Dec. 2. Warren’s own Facebook account contains several religious posts, including one that reads, “Don’t worry about anything. Instead pray for everything. Tell God what you need.”
Poker said Loma Linda employees remain in shock over Watson’s death and several feel terrible for spreading rumors that another worker — not Warren — might have killed the respected manager over a dispute.
“Some people feel ashamed for blaming somebody else and others are sad over losing Josh,” he said.
A celebration of life for Watson is scheduled for Dec. 21 at Greater Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.