Murder Trial Ordered for Man Accused of Shooting Stranger at McDonald’s

A Granada Hills man who shot a stranger to death at a McDonald’s in May told police afterward that he believed the victim was having an affair with his wife, apparently a delusion, a police investigator said Thursday.

Roger Pak, 43, was ordered Thursday in San Fernando Municipal Court to stand trial on a murder charge in the killing of Edward Capannelli, 60, of Van Nuys, as Capannelli ate breakfast the morning of May 10 at the McDonald’s in Mission Hills.

After his arrest later that day, Pak told police that he was responsible for the killing, Los Angeles Police Detective Jim Vojtechy said in an interview.

Pak said he knew that his wife was involved with the man he shot, whom he did not know by name, Vojtechy said.

But Vojtechy said Capannelli knew neither Pak’s wife nor Pak, and investigators found no evidence that Pak’s wife was unfaithful.

Insanity Plea

Vojtechy said Pak may have made the statements because he suffers from delusions about his wife and children or because he wanted to lay the foundation for an insanity plea.

But Pak’s relatives told police that in February he had been treated for a mental disorder but ceased taking his prescribed medication shortly before the shooting.

Vojtechy did not testify at Thursday’s preliminary hearing for Pak. Deputy Dist. Atty. Guadalupe Y. Gonzalez said she believed that the testimony of a witness and the arresting officer was sufficient to hold Pak for trial.

At the hearing, Rafael Rodriquez, who works at the McDonald’s, identified Pak as the man who finished his coffee at the restaurant, fetched a gun from his car, then shot Capannelli in the back of the head for no apparent reason and without saying a word.

Left Restaurant

After the shooting, Pak calmly left the restaurant and drove away, Rodriquez testified.

Police traced the license plate number provided by Rodriquez and arrested Pak shortly afterward in front of the home where he lived with his wife and two teen-age children. When he was arrested, the .44-caliber handgun used in the shooting fell out of his waistband, Police Sgt. William Yarbrough, the arresting officer, testified.

Rodriquez testified that Pak and Capannelli had been regular customers at the restaurant in the 11000 block of Sepulveda Boulevard.

Capannelli was regarded as a friendly customer, but Pak frightened many of the employees, Rodriquez said. He said Pak, who usually looked angry, often spilled coffee and left piles of cigarette ash on the tables where he sat.

Rodriquez said he never saw Pak or Capannelli speak to each other.