Actor’s Ex-Partner Studio Gunman : Business Gripe With Kercheval, Co-Star of ‘Dallas,’ Reported

The man who burst onto a Lorimar studio lot and fired a shotgun into a sound stage before killing himself was identified today as Edward P. Phillips, 43, an Ohio resident who police said had a business gripe with actor Ken Kercheval.

Kercheval, who plays Cliff Barnes on the television show “Dallas,” was not at the studio when Phillips drove a rented truck through the gate, a studio spokesman said. Phillips and Kercheval were co-owners of an Indiana-based popcorn company until the actor allegedly took sole possession of the business, Culver City police said.

Investigators said Phillips, angered at Kercheval over the business deal, apparently flew to Los Angeles earlier this week to confront the actor. Phillips rented a truck in Ontario, obtained a 12-gauge shotgun and drove Tuesday evening to the Lorimar lot in Culver City, police said.

Unable to talk his way past a guard, Phillips rammed the truck through a closed gate, leaped out of the vehicle and set it on fire, police and witnesses said. He then fired half a dozen rounds into the wall of the sound stage where “Dallas” is filmed.

Commits Suicide

When police approached, Phillips turned the weapon on himself. No other injuries were reported in the incident.

The sound stage was empty at the time, a Lorimar spokesman said, because “Dallas” crews were filming on location elsewhere. Neither Kercheval nor his agent were available for comment.

Investigators later found a deactivated practice grenade and canisters of a poisonous chemical on the front seat of the truck.

Phillips is believed to have lived with his parents in Carroll, Ohio, a small, rural town in the middle of farmland.

The dispute over the popcorn company, Old Capital Popcorn, had generated several lawsuits, police said. “They (Phillips and Kercheval) were part owners of the popcorn business for awhile,” said Culver City Police Sgt. Hank Davies. “Somehow Kercheval wound up getting the whole business.”