Suspect Threatened Suicide Before Shooting Neighbors : Burbank: The man had been convicted of battery that day. His brother says, he “just . . . went berserk.”

A Burbank man, charged with murder in a shooting spree at a neighbor’s house that left two women dead and two others injured, disappeared after telling his family, “Goodby, I’m going to go kill myself,” his brother said Thursday.

Thomas Paul Humenik, infuriated at being found guilty of assault in an incident that began over the neighbor’s trimming some roses, “just grabbed the gun and went berserk,” said Ed Humenik, 39. “We tried to stop him. We tried to calm him down. There’s nothing we could do.”

His brother, 25, was charged in Glendale Municipal Court on Thursday with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, said Burbank Police Detective Rich Bison.

Thomas Paul Humenik was accused of shooting three women--two fatally--about an hour after he was convicted of beating the 75-year-old husband of one of the women. A fourth woman at whom he shot was not hit but was cut by flying glass, police said.

The shootings in the 2800 block of North Keystone Drive capped three years of quarrels between Humenik and several neighbors, said Ed Humenik, who has lived there with his brother, mother and grandfather since 1964. Neighbors several times complained of cars that Thomas Paul Humenik left parked in the street while repairing them. The neighbors contacted police, who ticketed several cars last August.

“He never meant to hurt anyone. . . . They kept badgering him about the cars,” Ed Humenik said. “People wouldn’t let up and leave him alone. He just couldn’t take it anymore and he snapped.”

He said his brother thought of himself as a victim of harassment. Some neighbors described him as a hot-tempered and inconsiderate young man.

The tensions came to a head on Jan. 3 when next-door neighbor Jack Donald Boyd, 75, walked onto Humenik’s lawn to trim roses bordering their properties. After an argument, Humenik hit Boyd, leading to the battery charge, police said.

Humenik was convicted Wednesday of misdemeanor battery in Burbank Municipal Court and sentenced to three years probation, fined $810 and ordered to stay away from Boyd. Afterward, Humenik seemed angry, but he did not lose control until the family arrived home, his brother said.

“We had just gotten inside the house and he said: ‘This isn’t right. I didn’t do it.’ Then he ran to his room and got his gun,” Ed Humenik said. “We told him to stop and put it down but then he ran out the door and then we heard shooting.”

Boyd was not home during the shootings, but his wife, Merle Ester Boyd, 73, died at the scene. Sheila Iris Young, 45, was shot in the chest and died a short time later at a hospital. Geraldine Correll, 70, was hit in the shoulder and was in good condition at Thompson Memorial Hospital. Elfriede Brauchle, 48, was hit by flying glass.

After the shootings, Humenik told his brother and mother that he was going to kill himself, then fled in his Chevrolet El Camino.

Humenik called the family about 8 p.m., Ed Humenik said, telling his brother and mother: “I love you. I’m sorry for everything. Goodby.”

Humenik had purchased two rifles during the recent riots, telling family members he feared for their safety, his brother said.

Jack Boyd, the man Humenik beat, declined comment. But several neighbors said Boyd had often taken Humenik fishing when the younger man was a teen-ager.