Laura Wilcox

Laura Wilcox was a 19-year-old Nevada Union graduate with an incredibly bright future, said family friend Elizabeth Martin.

"Our view was Supreme Court justice or president," Martin said.

But that future was snuffed Wednesday, when Wilcox was one of three people slain during what's been described as a "methodical" shooting spree by alleged gunman Scott Harlan Thorpe.

Also slain were Pearlie Mae Feldman, 68, a Chicago Park-area woman and caregiver for her ill husband, and Mike Markle, 24, assistant manager at Lyon's Restaurant, who had just started his job three days ago.

The wounded include Daizy Switzer, a 35-year-old behavioral health employee, who fractured her back and broke her pelvis and ankle when she jumped at least two stories from the HEW Building onto pavement, a witness said.

Other hospitalized victims were Judith Edzards, a county employee who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and Richard "Rick" Senuty, a cook at Lyon's Restaurant.

Laura Wilcox

Wilcox was a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania who worked the front office phones behind a glass partition.

She was a summer intern for county behavioral health who was "just back to work over Christmas vacation," said family friend and spokeswoman Elizabeth Martin, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors.

Wilcox, a 1999 Nevada Union graduate, was well-loved, Martin said.

"This community has lost an incredibly precious angel who was a fireball," said Martin, who was at the family's Penn Valley home Wednesday night.

"We have been talking about how incredibly great she was," Martin said.

John Eby, a crisis counselor in the Behavioral Health Department, described Laura as "a very sweet child, very full of life." He recalled that she told him a couple of days ago that she was a history major.

Co-worker Yvonne O'Keefe, described her "as just a sweetheart. She really brightened up the place. She was young, eager, and good with clients. She treated them like any other person."

Mike Markle

Mike Markle, Lyon's Restaurant assistant manager who was slain Wednesday, had started his job only three days earlier.

Markle, 24, was a Yuba City father of two who transferred from Lyon's Restaurant in Yuba City, said his mother, Margie Markle.

"He's worked for the Lyon's chain since he was 18. He loved working for the Lyon's organization. His whole life was that," his mother said. "For someone as young as he, he was a very hard worker and very dedicated."

Markle worked up the ranks, she said. He began his career as a busboy and dishwasher, worked as a waiter and became an assistant manager about two years ago.

Mike Markle, who was divorced, leaves behind a 5-year-old daughter, Tristyn, and a son, Austin, who will turn 3 Friday.

He's also survived by an older sister, Elizabeth, and her son and daughter.

"We're a very close family," his mother said. Mike Markle was especially close with his sister's two children, she said.

Margie Markle, who teaches at Notre Dame School in Marysville, learned at 3 p.m. that her son had been shot. The shooting occurred at about 11:30 a.m.

"They came down and got me and said, 'Mike's been shot,'" she said.

The Lyon's Restaurant in Yuba City closed at 4 p.m. Wednesday after employees there learned of Markle's slaying. The restaurant will remain closed until 6 p.m. today so employees can gather and grieve.

Markle's late father, Richard Markle, was a minister at the First Presbyterian Church in Marysville.

The funeral hadn't yet been arranged Wednesday, but Margie Markle was sure it would be held at First Presbyterian Church.

Pearlie Mae Feldman

Pearlie Mae Feldman, 68, of Chicago Park, who was slain at the HEW building, had a very ill husband, said crisis counselor John Eby.

"What I know about her is she was a caretaker for her husband," Eby said.

No further information about Feldman was available at 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Daizy Switzer

County employee Daizy Switzer, 35, was transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center for treatment Wednesday.

"She's got a pretty aggravated ankle fracture as well as a back and pelvic fracture," said Darren Phelan, emergency room doctor at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, where Switzer was taken first.

Switzer jumped from the HEW Building, and "it was at least two stories. She landed on concrete," said John Eby, who, while hiding during the shooting, was one of several county employees who saw Switzer on the ground.

"I don't fault her at all for jumping," said Eby, who thought the gunman was "very methodical."

Judith Edzards

Judith Edzards, 49, a county supervising health technician was airlifted to Sutter Roseville Medical Center where she was in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

"A very sweet woman. Very competent in her job," is how Eby described Edzards.

He said Edzards had worked for Nevada County "for quite a while."

Richard "Rick" Senuty

Richard "Rick" Senuty, 34, was in stable condition after being shot in the arm and abdomen Wednesday.

Senuty has worked for about 1 1/2 years as a cook at Lyon's Restaurant, said his stepmother, Sande Senuty.

Rick Senuty, who's unmarried and has no children, lives in a cabin on his parent's property off Lime Kiln Road.

"He's a pretty good kid. He's pretty much a homebody," said his stepmother. He helps take care of the family's horses, she said.

Darren Phelan, emergency room doctor at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, said Senuty had two abdominal bullet wounds, one of which might have been an exit wound.

"It looked like it went through his liver and exited his body," Phelan said. Senuty also was shot twice in the arm, said hospital spokesman Gary Cooke.

Sande Senuty said the doctor who operated on her stepson "said he was on very lucky young man" to have escaped more serious injury.

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