Homeowner in ’87 Shooting Incident Is Arrested Again

A Pacoima homeowner has been arrested for the second time in less than a year on suspicion of firing a gun at people he said were involved in illegal activity on a street corner in front of his house, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

Joseph C. Grant, 52, scheduled for trial next week on a charge of shooting at a woman he said was selling drugs in front of his Montford Street house Nov. 8, was arrested Saturday after police said he fired a shotgun into the street and slightly injured a man he said had threatened him with a gun, police said.

The Saturday incident was followed this week by a reported drive-by shooting in which bullets struck Grant’s home Tuesday morning, police said.

“Mr. Grant is living in a tough neighborhood,” Detective Al Ferrand said. “He claims that a lot of drug activity is going on there.”

Police said Grant told them that Saturday’s shooting started after he saw drug activity in front of his home at Montford and Welk Avenue and heard what he believed were gunshots.

“He saw several people throwing firecrackers into his yard and he also claimed one guy had a gun in his hand,” Ferrand said.

Grant told police that he feared for his life so he grabbed a gun, went into his front yard and fired, Ferrand said.

Ferrand said Marlon Clark, 26, of Pacoima, was struck in the right leg by three pellets from the blast. He was treated at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar after the incident, police said. Ferrand said Clark had no weapon when interviewed at the hospital by police officers and was not arrested.

Grant was arrested at his home on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The case is under review by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, officials said.

At 1:40 a.m. Tuesday, Grant called police, saying he had been awakened by gunshots fired at his house. He told authorities that he saw two cars without lights on driving away when he looked out his window.

Ferrand said there are some bullet holes in the front wall of Grant’s house. But police said they do not know who shot at the house.

Grant could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Police said the Nov. 8 incident was similar to Saturday’s shooting.

In the earlier incident, police said Grant--who said at the time he often fired a handgun into the air to scare off drug dealers who congregated on his corner--fired one shot at a woman he said was involved in drug activity in the neighborhood.

Police said the bullet from the small-caliber gun struck Lalaetta Parks, 28, in the shoulder but did not break the skin because of heavy clothing she was wearing. Police said they found no evidence at the scene that Parks was involved in drug activity, and she was not arrested.

Grant was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. His trial in that incident is scheduled to begin Monday, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Harold Lynn said the latest shooting probably will delay the trial.

“This casts a new light on everything,” Lynn said.