Encino Man Kills Roommate, Himself

An Encino man apparently upset over breaking up with his girlfriend shot one of his roommates to death and killed himself hours later at the end of a police chase in Hawthorne, police said Monday.

The victim, a 26-year-old California State University, Northridge, student, had moved in with the gunman and another man about two months ago after answering a campus bulletin board advertisement for someone to share their apartment, in the 17600 block of Burbank Boulevard, police said.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Bill Gaida said the victim and the gunman, Douglas Fiebelkorn, 24, were at home watching television about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when Fiebelkorn pulled out an automatic handgun and shot the student several times.

The student, whose identity was being withheld until relatives could be notified, died early Monday after surgery at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. Police, called to the apartment by a third, also unidentified roommate--who was awakened by the shooting--found the victim lying on the sidewalk outside.

“It’s a mystery,” Gaida said of Fiebelkorn’s motive. “He emptied a full clip of bullets into his roommate and then took off.”

Hawthorne police said Fiebelkorn turned up about 1 a.m. Monday at the Hawthorne apartment of his former girlfriend, Tamara Napoli, 24, and her 3-year-old daughter. Armed with a rifle, he forced himself into the apartment, but Napoli was able to flee to the apartment of a neighbor, who alerted police, Sgt. Peter Frankel said.

Frankel said Fiebelkorn fired three shots at the neighbor, Pamela Pireto, 21, who entered the apartment to rescue Napoli’s child, but missed her. She did not realize she had been shot at until later, when police found bullets lodged in a door.

Police arrived just as Fiebelkorn jumped into a pickup truck and speeded south along Hawthorne Boulevard. Frankel said two police cars cornered Fiebelkorn at an intersection about five minutes later. As officers were getting out of their patrol cars, Fiebelkorn pointed his rifle at them but then turned it on himself and shot himself once in the head, Frankel said. Fiebelkorn died at the scene.

Gaida said there were indications that Fiebelkorn was intoxicated at the time of the shooting and was on medication. He said Fiebelkorn, a former Hughes Aircraft Co. loading-dock worker, may have used narcotics in the past.

“We think that alcohol and drugs played a role, but that’s all we have,” Gaida said.