1 Shot, 1 Killed in Lovers’ Quarrels

Lovers’ quarrels ended violently in Norwalk and Lakewood early Sunday morning when a man critically shot himself after his girlfriend threatened to leave him in one incident, and a woman shot and killed her lover in the other, sheriff’s deputies said.

In Norwalk, 19-year-old Enrique Reyes shot himself in the head with a .38-caliber pistol shortly after 1 a.m. in an attempt to prove his love to a disgruntled girlfriend, said Lt. Jim Pendergist of the sheriff’s Norwalk station.

“He said: ‘Let me show you how much I love you,’ and placed a pistol to the right rear part of his head,” Pendergist said.

“At this point we have to assume it was an intentional self-inflicted gunshot wound,” he said. “But I don’t know if he meant to shoot himself, if he knew he pulled the trigger that hard. At this point, we just don’t know.”

Reyes was in “extremely critical condition” at the Los Angeles County-USC Hospital Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, in Lakewood, Susan Saxbury shot and killed her boyfriend, Frank Heidenfelder, during an argument at her home, authorities said.

Saxbury, 43, and Heidenfelder, 38, had been arguing earlier that night, said sheriff’s Detective Patrick Morgan. When the couple’s argument turned into a physical confrontation and the man “physically accosted” Saxbury, she shot Heidenfelder once in the head, Morgan said.

Heidenfelder, who lived in Long Beach, died at the scene, Morgan said. Saxbury was arrested on suspicion of murder and was in custody, Morgan said.