Man Denies He Meant to Shoot Girl’s Boyfriend

A Woodland Hills man on trial for murder in the shooting death of a teen-ager he found in his home said Monday he never intended to shoot anyone, and had no idea the person he chased and shot was his stepdaughter’s boyfriend.

Peter Atanasov testified in Van Nuys Superior Court that he fired four shots into bushes outside his house because “I wanted those persons to surrender and give back what they took from my house.”

The 37-year-old framing contractor said he had been burglarized several times prior to the June 24, 1986, shooting incident.

The prosecution maintains that Atanasov knew the figure he chased in the dark was not a burglar, but was 18-year-old Dane Kimball, boyfriend of Vanessa Jeffery, the defendant’s 15-year-old stepdaughter.

Several prosecution witnesses testified earlier that Atanasov had threatened to kill Kimball unless he stayed away from the Atanasov household.

The body of Kimball, shot in the head, was found the morning after the shooting in bushes across the street from the Atanasov house in the 4600 block of Canoga Avenue.

Atanasov testified that he had no indication he had hit someone when he excitedly fired his .38-caliber revolver into the bushes.

“All this happened in a matter of a few seconds,” said Atanasov, “and I was yelling continuously.”

Police who investigated the burglary on the night of the shooting testified that Atanasov and his wife, Bonnie, failed to mention that he had fired a gun.

Police said the couple described in detail arriving home from shopping and seeing one or more suspects with a flashlight in their house, then chasing someone through the yard and across the street.

Under questioning by defense attorney Mitchell W. Egers, Atanasov denied threatening to kill Kimball, but said he had banned the youth from the house after catching him “coming out of my bedroom with a bundle of my keys. He tried to conceal them.”

If convicted of second-degree murder with a firearm, Atanasov faces 17 years to life in prison.