Father Won’t Be Charged in Son’s Death

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office on Thursday declined to file criminal charges against a Northridge plumber who shot to death his 24-year-old son, ruling the incident a justifiable homicide.

Arthur S. Rudnick, 56, was released from Van Nuys Jail after police and prosecutors accepted his version that he shot his son Eric Rudnick in self-defense. The incident took place Tuesday evening in the family’s house in the 19000 block of Nashville Street.

The two had been arguing about the son’s lack of employment and his future, and his growing of marijuana in the house against his parents’ wishes, Los Angeles police said. When Eric Rudnick pointed a loaded rifle at his father and threatened to kill him, Arthur Rudnick armed himself with another rifle and shot first, authorities said.

“Apparently, the young man had fired shots in the house on prior occasions and Mr. Rudnick was in fear for not only his life, but his wife’s life,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

In 1988, Eric Rudnick was convicted of misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon and placed on probation after threatening a neighbor’s visitor with a rifle when the visitor refused to move his car, according to court records.

Richard Plotkin, an attorney for the elder Rudnick, said Thursday that the shooting was “a classic self-defense case” that involved “more emotional than legal questions right now.”

“Eric was a troubled boy,” Plotkin added.