Police Say 3 Relatives Slain by One Killer : Crime: Two family members were shot in Culver City, the third in Phoenix. One victim allegedly ran scams involving movies.

The murders of three members of a family--two shot in their car on a Culver City street, the third in his suburban Phoenix home--were committed by the same person, police said Sunday.

“We have a suspect” who is the target of an interstate manhunt, Culver City Police Detective Hank Davies said late Sunday. “I’d say there’s a good likelihood that the suspect is responsible for all the murders.”

The same type of weapon--a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol--was used in the three murders, law enforcement sources said.

Investigators believe the slayings were rooted in a scam in which a number of film and business investors were swindled out of millions of dollars over several years.

Gunned down Thursday afternoon at Sepulveda Boulevard and Slauson Avenue were Roland Jon Emr, 45, of Torrance, an executive with GMT Studio in Culver City; and his son, Roger Jon Emr Jr., 20, of Torrance. Arthur Charles Emr Sr., 71, Roland Emr’s father, was shot to death in his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Roland and Roger Emr were slain by shots fired from a car that pulled beside their late-model Lincoln Continental at a stop light. Sue Fellows, a friend of Roland Emr, was slightly wounded when a bullet grazed her cheek, police said. A fourth passenger in the car, Roland Emr’s mother Renee, 70, of Paradise Valley, was unhurt.

Renee Emr and Fellows ducked when the shooting started and were not able to provide a description of the killer or the getaway car, law enforcement sources said.

Arthur Emr was shot in the back of the head from close range as he sat at a desk in his study, according to Paradise Valley Police Sgt. Jim Kiekintveld.

A second son of Roland Emr, Robert, 18, who lives a few blocks from his grandfather, was placed in protective custody, a police source told the Arizona Republic.

“It looks like my son (Roger) was an innocent victim,” Kathy Holiday, Roland Emr’s ex-wife, who lives in the Los Angeles area, told an Arizona Republic reporter. “I’m really worried about Bobby.”

Davies said it was not hard for police to find people with a grudge against Roland Emr.

“There’s plenty of people who were upset with Emr,” the detective said. “From what many people have told me, he was a con artist. There are plenty of people who have motives. I’d say millions was skimmed.”

Scott Barnes, a Washington, D.C.-based private investigator, said his research, too, has turned up “millions lost through (Roland Emr’s) scams” between 1983 and 1989.

Barnes said he received $25,000 in option cash from Emr in 1987 for the film rights--which were never exercised--to his book, “Bohica,” a story about prisoners of war. Subsequently, he said he was retained by a law firm suing Emr.

Barnes said that of the six films Emr claimed to have the rights to, four had Vietnam prisoner-of-war themes.

Earl Rutledge, a Ft. Worth lawyer, filed a civil racketeering suit on behalf of two Texas businessmen against Emr three years ago for allegedly swindling his clients out of $700,000. The businessmen charged in the lawsuit that Emr did not have the rights to a film and a separate television production that he had used to attract the cash.

“Emr was a very persuasive fellow,” Rutledge said.