New details emerged this week in the shooting death of former
Anzar High School volleyball coach Tamara Smith, who had coached at
the high school for three years and was the victim of a bizarre
workplace shooting in Santa Cruz Friday.
By Alice Joy Staff Writer
Hollister – New details emerged this week in the shooting death of former Anzar High School volleyball coach Tamara Smith, who had coached at the high school for three years and was the victim of a bizarre workplace shooting in Santa Cruz Friday.
Aromas resident Steven Smith, wrote out a short will before driving to the Lode Street Wastewater Treatment Facility in Santa Cruz where he fatally shot his estranged wife, and the man she lived with before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
The details shed new light on the tragedy.
“It really served as a closing for us as a part of how he planned it,” Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Lt. Phil Wowak said. “It shows he intended on dying that day.”
Steven Smith, 50, was the pump station maintenance supervisor, and his wife was a maintenance worker. The two were in the process of getting divorced, police said.
He shot her live-in boyfriend, Michael Sotelo, at the wastewater plant then Tamara Smith as she tried to escape in her vehicle. Tamara Smith died Saturday at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. She had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
During her time coaching volleyball at Anzar, Tamara Smith coached her daughter, Stephanie, 22, an Anzar graduate.
The flag at Anzar is flying at half staff to honor the loss of a staff member. Anzar Principal Charlene McKowen said the school had grief counselors on site to help any students who were affected by the loss.
“We’re just concentrating on Stephanie right now,” McKowen said.
Few current Anzar students knew Tamara Smith, but McKowen said she is sure the loss will affect the community.
Both Steven Smith and Sotelo were declared dead at the scene as result of gunshot wounds.
In addition to the handwritten will, which was found in a search of Steven Smith’s house Friday, the detectives also found multiple firearms and ammunition. Some of the ammunition was consistent with the weapons found at the scene.
Police detectives said they believe Steven Smith planned the attack on Sotelo and Tamara Smith and planned on taking his own life.
The investigation will remain open until an autopsy on Tamara Smith is completed, Wowak said.
