Rex Farrance, 59, a San Francisco-based technical editor for PC World magazine, was fatally shot when four masked men broke into his East Bay home Tuesday (Jan. 9) in what police claim was a drug-related attack. The assailants, who remain at large, also pistol-whipped Farrance’s wife, Lenore Vantosh-Farrance, 56. The AP quoted Pittsburg police Inspector John Conaty as saying, “We have substantial reason to believe that the victim and his wife were involved in the possession and, potentially, the distribution of illegal narcotics.” Conaty wouldn’t say what kind of drugs were supposedly involved. The couple’s son, 19-year-old Sterling Farrance, blasted the police assertion that his parents were involved with illegal drugs, telling the Chronicle that he grew and stored medical marijuana at their home with his parents’ permission. Meanwhile, PC World senior editor Denny Arar said Farrance’s colleagues are shocked by the killing. They described Farrance as a fitness buff, rock-music fan and a dedicated husband and father who excelled at his job.