SAN DIEGO – A worker at a biotech company in Carmel Mountain Ranch was in critical condition after being shot in the head by a coworker Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The shooting was reported at 1:44 p.m. at Phamatech, a medical services business located at 15175 Innovation Drive.

Police said 54-year-old Julio Narvaez, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, entered the business and fired two shots at the victim. He then headed towards the human resources office, but another worker who saw the gun wrestled Narvaez to the floor. A second employee kicked the gun from the assailant’s hand and company security guards held the gunman until police arrived and took him into custody.

“We believe right now it’s just the one person — one perhaps assisted by another — but he took some very decisive action. It’s a heroic thing.  We don’t recommend it, but his actions were very heroic,” San Diego police Lt. Charles Lara said.

A victim, thought to be a man in his 30s,  was conscious and talking when he was taken to Palomar Hospital, police said. His identity has not been released.

Both are employees of Phamatech, but their relationship and the motive for the shooting are under investigation.

“This appears to be a case of workplace violence — some manner of interpersonal issue between the shooter and the victim. We’re still obviously very early on in the investigation and conducting our investigation to see what precisely was the motive for the shooting,” Lara said.

A woman who says she works with the suspect and the victim told FOX 5 the two coworkers were related and had been feuding for months.