Galanter’s Suspected Attacker Called ‘Kind’

A priest who said he has known the man arrested in the brutal knife attack on City Council candidate Ruth Galanter for several years described the suspect Sunday as “a very kind, a very gentle person” who may have been struggling with a drug problem.

“I have never experienced any violence from him, not even verbal violence,” Father Perry Leiker, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, said of Mark Allen Olds.

On Saturday, Leiker accompanied Olds to the Pacific Division station, where the 27-year-old suspect turned himself in.

Olds, who had been sought by police since Friday, was later booked on suspicion of attempted murder and is being held without bail in the Parker Center Jail pending arraignment this week. Police would not disclose what evidence they have linking Olds to the case, but it is known that investigators ran several fingerprints found in Galanter’s home through the department’s computer.

Condition Upgraded

Galanter, 46, was stabbed in the neck by an intruder who entered her home in the 2200 block of Louella Avenue in Venice early Wednesday morning. Olds lives in a rooming house across the street.

Galanter’s condition was upgraded to fair Sunday by doctors at UCLA Medical Center. A hospital spokesman said the candidate, trying to unseat 6th Council District incumbent Pat Russell in a June 2 election, spent several hours with her mother and later was moved out of the intensive care unit to a private room.

Leiker said he met the suspect seven years ago at a funeral for a friend of Olds who had died of “drug-related” causes. After Leiker, then the pastor of St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church in Venice, delivered the eulogy, Olds kissed him on the cheek, the priest said.

“He said he just felt that I had said what this friend of his was all about,” Leiker recalled. “He said, ‘I love you. Thank you. He was like my brother.’ He has an emotional, passionate nature, which he just has to express sometimes.”

Leiker said Olds has felt a sense of kinship with him ever since. When Leiker transferred to the Wilmington church four years ago, Olds continued to stay in touch.

“He came here for Mass twice this year, and he brought his girlfriend,” the priest said.

Leiker said Olds called him Saturday afternoon seeking help.

“I had just finished another wedding and was getting ready to hear some confessions when he called,” said Leiker. “The first thing he said was that he wanted to turn himself in.”

Olds asked the priest to meet him at a warehouse near Lincoln Boulevard and the western end of the 90 Freeway in Marina del Rey. Leiker said Olds appeared extremely nervous.

“He was shaking a little and looking away from me,” Leiker said. “He obviously had a lot on his mind. He looked as if he hadn’t shaved in several days.”

‘Very, Very Afraid’

The priest said Olds admitted to being “very, very afraid. . . . He said he was afraid of being gunned down on the street.”

Leiker said he first cautioned Olds not to tell him anything about the Galanter matter.

“I immediately told him, ‘Please keep that to yourself. I’m just interested in how you feel,’ ” the priest said, adding that he urged Olds to consult with a lawyer before saying anything.

Leiker accompanied Olds to the police station, where he said he introduced Olds as the man being sought in the Galanter stabbing.

“They (the police) didn’t even recognize him,” the priest said.

Olds later retained attorney James Epstein, who successfully defended the suspect in a trial for the murder of a rival gang member.

Leiker said Olds expressed deep discouragement before turning himself in, because he had been doing well after a having struggled with drugs and a series of run-ins with the law. Police had described Olds as a former street gang member with an extensive history of arrests and as a possible heroin addict.

“He felt he was making good progress in his life,” Leiker said. “He was going to bartending school. Someone told me he had a job recently. I told him to take one step at a time.”