Film Studio Guard Slain by Suspected Killer of 3

A former patient from a New Jersey mental institution, wanted for allegedly killing three people in an Albuquerque shopping mall on Tuesday, shot a Universal Studios guard to death and critically wounded another guard Thursday evening before he was wounded in a gun battle with a sheriff’s deputy.

The gunman, who was hospitalized in critical condition, was identified as Nathan Nick Trupp, said Deputy Van Mosley, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Albuquerque authorities were searching for Trupp as the deranged gunman who complained of “poisoned bagels” outside a shop there, then went inside and killed a man and a woman, Mosley said. A shop employee chased him outside, where the employee was also killed, Mosley said.

‘Walked Away From Hospital’

Trupp “walked away” from a mental hospital in New Jersey, where he had voluntarily committed himself, said Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Burt. “He one day decided he had enough therapy and walked away.”

At about 5:45 p.m. Thursday, the gunman walked up to the guard shack at an employees’ entrance to the giant Universal City entertainment compound in the 3900 block of Lankershim Boulevard “and started firing for no apparent reason,” said Mosley.

“As I understand it, he didn’t say anything; he just started shooting,” Mosley said.

“We have no evidence that the man knew these guards,” who were employees of Burns International Security, Mosley said. “We have no witnesses who have seen him here before. It appears to be a motiveless type of thing.”

“We have absolutely no clues why,” said Daniel E. Slusser, senior vice president and general manager of the studio. “This individual simply walked up to the main gate and fired.”

There was no robbery attempt, and no money is kept at guard shacks on the grounds, Slusser said.

“A broadcast went out, and a deputy was right in the area and saw the individual running on Lankershim Boulevard,” Mosley said. “He chased him in the car and on foot.”

The deputy caught up with the suspect at Bluffside Drive, two blocks from the scene of the attack, and jumped from his patrol car. The deputy and the suspect exchanged shots, Mosley said, and the suspect fell wounded.

Trupp was reported in critical condition at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank with wounds in the chest and right arm, nursing supervisor Betty Neilson said.

The surviving guard was also listed in critical condition with a head wound, she said.

The guards’ identities were withheld pending notification of their families.

Witnesses said one guard died immediately after the gunshots.

Tom Lopez, an engineer who works at the headquarters building of MCA--the entertainment conglomerate that owns Universal--said he was climbing a stairway from a tunnel between two office buildings that comes out at the guard shack. Lopez said he heard the shots but thought nothing of them.

“When you hear gunshots in a studio, you don’t associate them with murder,” Lopez said.

He presumed that the shots were from the “Miami Vice” show--part of the live entertainment for tourist audiences that is based on the TV police series--until he reached the head of the stairs and saw the dead guard “lying in a pool of blood.”

Lopez, who had known the guard for several years, said he “at first could not understand why he was there.”

“It was just shocking,” he said.

Working Overtime

The dead guard usually worked the morning shift, Lopez said, but was on overtime.

The shooting took place at the entrance to the office and film-making areas, used only by studio employees, Slusser said.

“No tourists use that gate,” he said. “It leads to the MCA office building and to the studio.”

The 420-acre lot houses the 14-story MCA building, two hotels, many restaurants and shops, a film and TV studio with 34 sound stages, an amusement park and a concert amphitheater.

Police cordoned off the area, causing a massive traffic jam on the adjacent Hollywood Freeway as a crowd arrived for a concert by rock singer Robert Plant. Traffic was rerouted, and the concert went on as scheduled.

It was the second armed incident in Universal City in recent days. Last Saturday, two gunmen wearing business suits ambushed an armored car guard in the nearby Cineplex Odeon multiplex theater and escaped with $166,000 in cash. No shots were fired.

Contributing to this story was Times staff writer Michael Connelly.