Police Blame Marital Problems in Wife’s Slaying, Man’s Suicide

A man who apparently became distraught when his wife served him with divorce papers shot and killed the woman in the back office of their small Van Nuys restaurant and then turned the gun on himself, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

Officer Marcia Brandt said Fernando Vasquez, 41, and Maria Vasquez, 32, lived in Sylmar and operated Marco’s, a small Mexican restaurant and bar in the 7700 block of Sepulveda Boulevard.

“Both had been having marital problems for two years,” Brandt said. Maria Vasquez had recently filed for divorce and on Friday went “to the restaurant to serve her husband with divorce papers.”

After arriving at the restaurant at 2:30 p.m., she went into a rear office with her husband to discuss the divorce, police said. About four hours later, a concerned relative arrived at the restaurant and broke into the locked office, where he found the man and woman dead.

Brandt said investigators found evidence that Fernando Vasquez shot his wife in the head and then shot himself in the head. The gun was found at the scene.

The restaurant was open but there were no customers in the late afternoon. Police said employees apparently did not hear the shots from the office because a radio and a television were playing. The couple had four children, police said.