Wife Shot, Her Mother Is Slain; Deputies Kill Man

A man allegedly shot his mother-in-law to death and critically wounded his wife outside a restaurant near San Dimas Friday night, and then was shot and killed himself 90 minutes later in an exchange of gunfire with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

The women were shot at 6:15 p.m. outside the B & J Restaurant, 20824 Arrow Highway. The man confronted them in the restaurant’s parking lot and “an altercation ensued,” Los Angeles County Deputy Pete Fosselman said.

Gus Bonorris, the restaurant’s owner, said he was near a side door when he heard one of the women screaming, “Call the police. Call the police.”

“I opened the door,” he said, “and I saw the wife and the mother-in-law pulling each other along, moving toward me. The guy was behind them.

“He took his gun out and started shooting. They fell right there, and he walked away like nothing happened.”

Identities of the women and the man were not released, pending notification of relatives.

Both women were shot at close range with a .9-millimeter pistol, deputies said. Pat Migliore, an employee at a service station near the restaurant and a witness to the incident, said the husband fired five shots, one of which struck the mother-in-law in the head.

Deputies said the man’s mother-in-law died at the scene. His wife was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital where she was reported to be in critical condition late Friday night.

Investigators said they have not determined what prompted the argument that apparently led to the shootings.

Bonorris said the women had been in his restaurant having a soft drink about 30 minutes before they were shot. He said he recognized the man and wife, whose ages he estimated at late 20s or early 30s, because they both frequented a tanning salon next door to his restaurant in a shopping mall.

After the shooting, Fosselman said, deputies and Covina police officers cordoned off an eight-block area.

Following tips from witnesses, officers tracked the suspect to a equipment rental lot two blocks south of the restaurant near Sunflower Avenue and Covina Boulevard.

Officers closed in on a vehicle at the rear of the lot, said Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Chuck Bradley, and when deputies opened the vehicle’s rear door the man fired a shot that grazed a deputy on the forehead.

The officers then returned the fire, killing the man, Bradley said.