Grand Jury Decides Not to Indict Shop Owner Who Killed Youth, 15

The Orange County Grand Jury announced Wednesday that it will not indict a Costa Mesa car repair shop owner who fatally shot a suspected teen-age burglar.

Authorities have said that shop owner Eric Vincent Holt fired a shotgun into a car window, killing 15-year-old David Gallardo. The shooting occurred just after midnight Oct. 29 as the Costa Mesa youth and a companion were driving away from Holt’s shop, Holtz VW Repair.

Lug Nuts Found

Holt reportedly believed that the two had stolen expensive alloy wheels from a Porsche parked at the shop, and police have said lug nuts from one of the wheels later were found inside Gallardo’s car.

The 19-member jury found no reason to bring criminal charges in the incident, jury foreman James V. Robinson II said Wednesday in a prepared statement.

Members of Gallardo’s family could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but Amador Corona, an attorney representing them, said he was “shocked and dismayed” by the findings.

“They still left one unanswered question: Why was the shot actually fired? They have intimated that Holt had feared for his safety . . . , but I think pointing a loaded gun at a person through a window pane and having it go off is negligent,” Corona said.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard M. King, who made public the grand jury’s decision at a news conference in Santa Ana, said the district attorney’s office plans no further action. King declined to disclose the recommendation his office made to the jurors. But the prosecutor, in releasing details of the police investigation into events surrounding the fatal shooting, said evidence his office has gathered has led him to believe that Holt had not used excessive force.

The grand jury heard testimony from 28 witnesses during a four-day hearing and reached its decision “after an exhaustive review of the evidence,” Robinson said.

Corona said the decision “will have no impact” on the family’s $1.1-million civil suit against Holt. The suit alleges that Holt was negligent and used excessive force.

Holt could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

King said Holt told police that he saw a shiny object in Gallardo’s hands after he yelled at the pair to “Halt!” and “Freeze!”

Holt mistakenly believed that the object, which was a screwdriver Gallardo had used to jump-start his car, was a weapon, King said.

Description of Shooting

“When Eric Holt approached David Gallardo’s Volkswagen, the Volkswagen was moving and (it) started to accelerate,” King said. He described Holt as holding the shotgun with the barrel pointed up, his right hand on the stock and left hand on the barrel.

“Eric Holt was attempting to display the shotgun to the two individuals in the Volkswagen in order to convince them to stop,” King continued.

When he saw the shiny object, Holt “ducked and the shotgun was discharged,” King said.

Gallardo was struck in the back of the head and died at a nearby hospital 1 1/2 hours later.

His companion, Thomas Ramirez, 16, was not injured.

King said the complex case was referred to the grand jury because an independent panel was needed to weigh the evidence in an incident he called a “combination of accident and self-defense.”

At the time of the shooting, Holt was living at the shop with his pregnant wife and three children, King said.

He said Holt heard a noise, peered through a mail chute and saw two individuals bent down while apparently trying to take alloy wheels from the Porsche. Holt surprised the two and they tried to flee.

“This was a very tragic case because it did take the life of a young man, and it was difficult to analyze from a legal standpoint,” King said.

Story Didn’t Change

King said Holt’s story of what occurred that night did not change despite four rigid police interviews. In addition, he told the same version to his wife, his father and the shop manager, according to the police investigation, King said.

The upward trajectory of the shotgun pellets also confirmed Holt’s version, King said.

After the shotgun was fired, King said, Gallardo’s car continued to move and struck another car. Ramirez got out and was held by Holt who, with Ramirez in tow, notified police in a taped telephone conversation that someone was hurt.

In the conversation, a transcript of which King read to reporters, Holt was asked by the police dispatcher, “Where is he shot?”

Holt replied: “I can’t tell. I can’t tell. It looked like he pulled something up at me so I just fired.”

Asked later by police if he intentionally pulled the trigger, Holt answered, “I just don’t know.”

Corona criticized authorities for not arresting Holt, a decorated Marine Corps veteran who had armed himself because of previous assaults and break-ins.

Freed After Questioning

Instead, Holt was questioned by Costa Mesa police and then released. In addition, his identity was withheld for at least two weeks after the shooting. Gallardo’s relatives and friends have been critical of how the case has been handled, pointing out the prosecutor’s refusal to disclose Holt’s name without any explanation during the two-week period.

Stan Dick, Gallardo’s stepfather, said police were unusually protective of the 30-year-old businessman, whose version of events that night conflicted with that of Ramirez, who claimed that Holt shot Gallardo without yelling anything.

King said Wednesday that Holt’s identity was withheld because of numerous threats received at the shop. He added that even after his name was disclosed publicly, the shop continued to receive threats.

King said he told police not to arrest Holt because of his exemplary military record, his ties to the community, his lack of a criminal record and the fact that he had rescued a woman from an armed robber near his shop two years ago.

Rescue Told

During the rescue, Holt chased the woman’s assailant, wrestled a loaded rifle away and held him for police, King said.

On another occasion, Holt was assaulted when he confronted two people who were stealing car radios at 2 a.m., King said.

“Here we had a guy who was married, has three children and his wife is pregnant. He is an individual who started his business from scratch and worked hard at it for eight years. Plus he had no criminal record.”

“The probability of Mr. Holt leaving the area was very remote,” King said.

As for differences between what Holt said and the Ramirez youth’s version, King noted that another witness--Adrian Bullock, who lives near the shop but does not know Holt--had told police he heard somebody yell “Halt!”