LOS ANGELES : Man Pleads Not Guilty in MCA Shooting Rampage

A former MCA employee accused of firing potshots at the giant entertainment firm’s Universal City high-rise headquarters and an adjacent bank six weeks ago pleaded not guilty Thursday to 16 criminal counts.

John Brian Jarvis, 58, is charged with nine counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling and seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon for the April 20 rampage that injured eight people. Jarvis, who is being held on $1 million bail, was arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court and ordered to stand trial May 27.

Authorities allege that he aimed a high-powered rifle at the MCA World Headquarters building because he was fired there in 1986 from his part-time job as a driver.

A Los Angeles police detective testified during the preliminary hearing that Jarvis told him after his arrest that he believed the company had “blackballed him from the industry and he was unable to get a job.”

“He blamed MCA for his problems and for his unemployment,” said Detective Jerry Stephens. “He had thought about going down and shooting up the building for years.”