Man Who Killed Two Suspected Car Burglars Won’t Be Charged : Crime: Prosecutors say they don’t have enough evidence against owner who shot intruders in garage. He had silent alarms in vehicles.

Prosecutors said Thursday that they again have decided against filing murder charges against a Los Angeles man who killed two suspected car burglars in four months after they tripped silent alarms in his apartment garage.

Enrique Agraz shot James Oliver McGilvery to death last month after he found the intruder tampering with his Toyota pickup. Police had aggressively sought a murder charge in the shooting, saying Agraz had, in effect, set a trap and killed the burglar even though Agraz was not in imminent danger.

Four months ago, the district attorney’s office also declined to prosecute Agraz, 52, after he killed another suspected car burglar under identical circumstances in the garage of his apartment building near MacArthur Park.

In both incidents, prosecutors said, there was not enough evidence to build a convincing case against him. Agraz told police he shot both men because he feared for his life.

Agraz could not be reached for comment Thursday. Residents at the Tropical Crest, the two-story apartment building in the 900 block of Carondelet Street where the shootings occurred, said he had recently moved.

Police said they were angry the district attorney would not prosecute Agraz.

“I feel this man sets up a situation to kill people,” said Detective Stan Jablonski of the Los Angeles Police Department Rampart Division. “The first time the D.A. gave him the benefit of the doubt. The second time we have practically the same situation and he uses the same story. I am real concerned this is going to happen again.”

But a deputy district attorney said Thursday there was little chance of getting a conviction in the McGilvery shooting.

“There is evidence of self defense that is convincing enough that we don’t believe any jury of 12 people would find (Agraz) guilty,” said John Lynch.

A witness to the shooting, the manager of Agraz’s apartment building, had corroborated Agraz’s contention that McGilvery, 34, had advanced toward them in a threatening manner, Lynch said. A large screwdriver was found near McGilvery’s body, he said. Police described the screwdriver as a “burglary tool.”

The district attorney’s office had similarly ruled that there was a lack of evidence to prosecute Agraz in the Dec. 10 shooting death of Arteamus Ward, 36, whom Agraz caught inside one of the six vehicles he kept in the apartment building garage.

Some of the vehicles were equipped with a silent alarm system that caused a pager to sound inside Agraz’s apartment. In both incidents, after the alarm went off, Agraz armed himself with a .38-caliber revolver and went to the garage.

Ward was unarmed when Agraz confronted him, police said. There were no witnesses to that incident.

The decision not to charge Agraz in the latest case also angered Ward’s family, which has monitored developments since Agraz was freed in the first shooting.

“It’s totally unbelievable that this man can kill two people and doesn’t even get a slap on the wrist,” said Patricia Ward, the dead man’s sister. “We’re in shock. We just don’t understand.” Ward contended that her brother, who like McGilvery was a transient, had been sleeping in Agraz’s unlocked vehicle to get out of the rain and cold.

Agraz confirmed that in his statement to the police. He told officers that when Ward was confronted he suggested Agraz call the police. But Agraz also contended that Ward moved toward him and would not stop when ordered. Ward was shot once in the midsection.

Jablonski said that after the first shooting, detectives advised Agraz to keep his cars locked and call police when his alarm went off.

But Lynch said Agraz could not be forced to follow such advice.

“He was under no legal obligation not to go down and protect his property,” Lynch said. “It might not have been the common sense thing to do or the prudent thing, but that is another question.”