Youth, 16, Sought in Slaying

A 16-year-old Simi Valley youth is being sought in the slaying of the manager of a Northridge pizza parlor, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Detectives released the name and photograph of Dusty Tyrone Castillo at a news conference Friday after receiving the approval of a juvenile court judge.

Castillo is wanted in the Jan. 14 shooting death of John Michael Holden, 19, manager of Ameci In & Out Pizza and Pasta, 11229 Tampa Ave., as well as seven other business robberies in the San Fernando Valley that occurred between November and January.

Castillo is considered very dangerous, police said, because in each robbery he fired several rounds from a handgun before demanding money, Detective Paul Tippin said.

Castillo has not been seen since Jan. 20. On that day he is believed to have been the gunman who entered a TJ Maxx store at Winnetka Avenue and Sherman Way about 5 p.m., fired one shot into the ceiling, then pointed his handgun at a clerk and demanded money, Detective Robert Johansen said. After getting the money, he fled.

In the pizza case, a gunman police believe was Castillo and another youth entered the restaurant about 6:30 p.m. and demanded money.

Holden complied with a robber’s demand and handed over $450 but was shot anyway, “without provocation,” Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroeker said. Holden died later at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

“This was a classic textbook example of a merchant doing what we tell people to when they get robbed,” Kroeker said. “And he got killed anyway.”

After a $30,000 reward was posted in the case, police arrested two youths--ages 16 and 17--in connection with the robbery. One of the youths is believed to have been the driver in the pizza case while the other may have entered the store with Castillo.

The 17-year-old Canoga Park youth faces murder and robbery charges as an adult, Tippin said. The 16-year-old youth charged in Holden’s slaying is scheduled for a May 12 hearing to determine whether he should be tried as an adult. The 16-year-old is accused of cooperating in the killing and robbery by waiting in the getaway car while Castillo and the 17-year-old robbed the pizza shop, Tippin said.