Jealous Rage Set Pacoima Man on Shooting Spree, Authorities Say

John Granillo went out in his Pacoima back yard on Friday afternoon to play with his pet pit bull. After a few minutes, he kissed the dog goodby, grabbed a gun and went off to kill somebody.

Granillo’s father-in-law, Jesus Arellano, said he pleaded with Granillo to put the gun away as he walked out of the house they shared. But there was no stopping him, Arellano said.

For the next hour, Granillo, 29, went on a rampage in the East San Fernando Valley, killing three men and terrorizing their friends and families in what police said was a jealous rage. Granillo wound up in a face-off with three Los Angeles Police Department officers, who killed him after he pointed a gun at them.

Seeking Explanations

On Saturday, police, bewildered members of Granillo’s large family and survivors of the victims were attempting to piece together events that might explain the murderous spree.

“It was like a different person,” Arellano said of Granillo as he left the house Friday. The rage in Granillo’s face and the red in his eyes had been so menacing that Arellano almost didn’t recognize him, he said.

The speculations of those who knew Granillo revealed a portrait of a troubled and stubborn ex-convict who once headed a Pacoima car club. Granillo had not slept for three days, had beat up his brother-in-law in a domestic dispute only a few days before and was depressed about being unemployed, family members said.

Police said Granillo had gone off to kill three men he believed had affairs with his wife while he was in prison.

“I don’t know what made him do this,” said Arellano, 58, shaking his head as he stood outside his home. “I don’t know what made him pop his top. He was the kind of guy who would take his shirt off his back and give it to you if you needed it. It’s a nightmare.”

Granillo had lived with his wife, Esther, and their 12-year-old daughter, Christina, in Arellano’s house for about nine years.

Usually Cheerful

Usually a cheerful man, Granillo had been depressed since being laid off from a truck delivery job in February, Arellano said. The job had been Granillo’s most promising chance for respectability since getting out of prison in September. He had been convicted a few years ago of possession of a controlled substance and had been in and out of prison several times for parole violations, Arellano said.

“John didn’t like to take orders, that’s why he would violate parole,” Arellano said. “He would say he was too busy with a job to go see his parole officer. Even around here, he would be stubborn when I asked him to do a job for me.

“But with this job, he was doing wonderfully. Everything seemed to be picking up. When it ended, he didn’t do anything. He just sat around the house, and he wasn’t looking for another job.”

However, something else, something bigger, was troubling Granillo Friday before he left the house at 4:50 p.m. “He had fire in his eyes, and he seemed vicious,” Arellano said. “He didn’t say where he was going when he left.”

But others in the community said they had heard Granillo talk about going to “shoot some homeboys.”

Lt. William Hall of the Los Angeles Police Department officer-involved shooting team said Granillo went first to a house in the 13000 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. There, he confronted and fatally shot Mario Alvillar, 29, and Anthony Latta, 23.

Granillo then left for a house in the 13100 block of Osborne Street in the Arleta area, police said. He confronted Arthur Silva, 27, who was outside washing his car.

Granillo had been acquainted with Silva for several years, said Silva’s oldest brother, Richard, 33, who knew Granillo from the car club.

Argument Began

Silva, whose nickname was “Tudie,” had been having his own personal difficulties. He had served time for a burglary conviction and had separated from his wife, who lives in nearby Sylmar. He was spending most of his time at the Osborne Street house, where his mother, Mary Leun, 62, lived.

Leun was inside the house making lunch for her son when Granillo arrived and started arguing with Silva. Silva’s other brother, Gene, 29, was washing his face in the bathroom when he heard loud voices outside.

“Gene told me he heard Johnny say, ‘Are you my homeboy?’ and Tudie say, ‘You know me better than that,’ ” Leun said. Granillo pushed Silva to the side of the house and shot him, once in the chest and in the face, police said.

By this time, Leun was in the back yard, and Gene Silva had gone outside in time to see Granillo emptying spent cartridges from his gun at the side of the house. Gene Silva ordered his mother to hurry into the house and ran out through the back yard to get help.

Seen by Officer

“He probably would have shot Gene if he hadn’t run,” she said. Her family had already been touched by tragedy. One of her sons, Sammy, was killed in a shooting when he was 22 in 1978. Another son, Charles, died in 1971 of an apparent drug overdose.

Off-duty Los Angeles Police Officer Robert Saurman, 36, a member of the Police Department’s San Fernando Valley gang task force, was in the area and saw Granillo attack Silva, Hall said. He recognized Granillo from previous contacts, although he had never arrested him, he said.

When Granillo saw Saurman, he ran into a nearby yard, confronted a person washing a car and took the vehicle, Hall said.

In the meantime, Saurman flagged down a patrol car occupied by officers Thomas Wilkinson, 48, a 20-year police veteran, and Rolly Landtiser, 36, with the department for 10 years, Hall said.

‘You’re in Real Trouble’

The officers found Granillo’s residence but arrived after he had left. Granillo had driven home and told relatives he had shot three people because “they had been sexually involved with his wife while he had been in prison,” Hall said.

“I couldn’t believe it,” recalled Arellano, who said his daughter did not have relationships with the men. “I told him, ‘Johnny, you’re in real trouble.’ He left again without telling us where he was going, and I called the police.”

Saurman, Wilkinson and Landtiser spotted Granillo walking west in the 13800 block of Paxton Street, only a short distance from the house, Hall said.

Granillo tried to hide behind a parked vehicle, Hall said. When the officers ordered him to raise his hands, Granillo pointed a .44 magnum revolver at them, and all three officers opened fire, he said.

Granillo disappeared behind the parked car, and moments later the officers saw him kneeling at the rear bumper of the car, Hall said. When they saw that Granillo was still holding the gun and did not appear to be seriously injured, they fired again, he said.

17 Rounds Fired

The officers apparently fired 17 shots from their handguns, most of which hit the parked car, Hall said.

Hall said police think Granillo did not fire his gun at officers. The gun was loaded, and he had ammunition in his pockets, Hall said.

Arellano was in his living room when he heard the gunshots. Remembering the moment Saturday, he shook his head slowly.

“I just turned to Esther and said, ‘They got Johnny,’ he said.

And across the neighborhood Saturday, Mary Leun peeked into a room where her son had promised to refinish the floors. “God knows how many other innocent people could have been killed,” she said. “It’s so sad that my son had to be the one to get it.”