Hermosa Beach : Suspect in Shootings

An 18-year-old man who told police he was shooting at a telephone pole is under investigation in what investigators had thought was a sniper attack on an elderly couple’s home.

Police are continuing the investigation and would not release the name of the man, who has not been charged.

Hermosa Beach Police Sgt. Willie Cox figured out the identity of the man--a student at a local high school--by checking school absentee records, police spokesman Wally Moore said. The teen-ager was the only student absent each time the shots were fired and he lives in the area that police believed the shots came from, Moore said.

About 10 22-caliber bullets went through the living room window or hit the exterior of the home of Henry and Doris Rado in the 700 block of 24th Place between Nov. 10 and 19. Two bullets were fired as police stood outside the house.

The man, whom police described as “clean-cut” and with no police record, could face felony charges such as firing at an occupied dwelling and assault with intent to commit murder, Moore said. But any charges probably will be less serious than that, he said, because “obviously, there was no criminal intent that we can determine.”