Stepson of Executive at Paper Held in Shooting

The stepson of a prominent Long Beach newspaper executive was arrested Friday for allegedly shooting his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself.

Bradley D. Ackerman, 23, stepson of Long Beach Press-Telegram Chairman Daniel H. Ridder, was placed under police guard at St. Mary’s Hospital, where he was being treated for a gunshot wound to the chest.

Long Beach police said Ackerman shot Julie K. Alban in the back about 7 a.m. Wednesday while she slept, then shot himself. Ackerman was despondent because the couple had discussed ending their 10-month relationship, police said.

Alban, 22, also a member of a prominent Long Beach family, suffered a severed spinal chord and is paralyzed from the waist down, Detective John Miller said.

Ackerman and Alban, who grew up across the street from each other in the exclusive Park Estates neighborhood in southern Long Beach, were listed in stable condition Friday.

The district attorney’s office will charge Ackerman with attempted murder Monday, Detective William Collette said.

“She was sound asleep when she heard what she described as an explosion,” Collette said. “She thought someone had thrown ice water on the (electric) blanket (causing an electric shock) because she lost all feeling in the lower part of her body. And then she looked up and saw Brad there with a gun. He shot himself in the chest.”

Alban crawled to a phone to call her father, Dr. Seymour Alban, who was in another part of the sprawling home.

“She went to the phone to get help for him, not even realizing she had been shot,” Collette said.

Police said Ackerman wanted to marry Alban, but she would not agree. A former nationally ranked junior tennis player and graduate of UC Irvine, Ackerman had planned to travel to London this weekend for a job interview with an insurance company.

Their families have been friends for years, police said, and Ackerman was staying at the Albans’ home in a room next to Julie Alban because his own family was away on a trip.

“He was kind of like one of the family,” Collette said.

The 38-caliber revolver used in the shooting belonged to Julie Alban’s father, Collette said. The surgeon had shown the gun to Ackerman the night before at a meeting of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s reserves. Alban, a member of the group, kept the gun in a bag in the trunk of his car, Collette said.

The families “are both grief-stricken,” Collette said. “What can you say? It’s a real tragedy.”