Police Control Hold May Have Killed Gunman : Crime: David Fukuto apparently was strangled while being subdued after he shot two officers, sources say. Records show the robber was having financial problems.

Police investigators believe David J. Fukuto, the gunman who killed two Palos Verdes Estates police officers during a robbery attempt at a Torrance hotel, may have died from “some sort of control hold” used by officers who subdued him, sources close to the investigation said Thursday.

“We don’t know (the cause of death) yet but he didn’t die of head injuries,” one source said. “That was eliminated. And what we are guessing is that it was some sort of a control hold.”

Fukuto probably choked to death, the source said. Another source said Fukuto apparently died of strangulation while officers wrestled with him.

Representatives for the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, the county coroner and the Torrance Police Department, which is investigating the deaths of the officers and gunman, would not comment on the cause of Fukuto’s death.

“We rarely comment about any facts of any matter that’s under investigation,” said district attorney’s spokeswoman Suzanne Childs. At the request of the district attorney’s office, autopsies conducted on Fukuto and the two officers--Capt. Michael Tracy, 50, and Sgt. Vernon Thomas Vanderpool, 57--will remain confidential for 45 days.

Control holds are used by law enforcement officers to subdue combative people, typically by grasping them from behind, often around the neck in what is known as a chokehold. Chokeholds were in common use by police departments in Los Angeles and elsewhere until the 1980s, when public pressure over deaths tied to them led the Los Angeles Police Commission and other police agencies to limit their use to situations requiring deadly force.

Redondo Beach Lt. Jeffrey Cameron, acting spokesman for the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, said the small South Bay city has no policy that specifically precludes officers from using such control holds.

“In practical terms, if you are trying to save your life, it is completely legitimate and legal to use whatever method that you can to save your life and that of other people,” Cameron said.

Meanwhile, records show that Fukuto had been experiencing financial problems, having delinquent credit card debts and owing the state Franchise Tax Board $4,062 in back taxes and penalties. In April, 1993, the state board placed a lien of $2,696 in back taxes on any property he might have bought in the future, $674 in penalties and $692.64 in interest and collection costs, according to records filed with the county recorder’s office.

Police investigators, however, said they did not know whether Fukuto’s apparent financial woes may have led to his assault Monday on the Torrance hotel meeting room, where he shouted that he was conducting a robbery before opening fire on the two officers. The officers were among 13 Palos Verdes Estates employees attending a motivational seminar at the Torrance Holiday Inn.

“I wish we could figure that out. And I don’t know that we ever will,” Torrance Police Chief Joe De Ladurantey said. “We need someone to step forward and assist us in trying to make sense of the rationale, of his motivation.”

An inventory of the police search of Fukuto’s Mid-City home, filed in court Thursday, reveals the first details of the large arsenal of guns and ammunition that he kept in an upstairs bedroom.

Torrance police reported finding a cache of 13 pistols of various makes and models--some in bags, some in briefcases and one in a holster--along with three rifles and two shotgun.

Hundreds of rounds of ammunition, both single bullets and full magazines, were stored in drawers, jars, pouches and boxes. Several receipts and purchase orders for weapons were found.

The 1984 Toyota Celica that Fukuto left parked at the Holiday Inn on the day of the shooting was also loaded with guns and ammunition. Inside were two pistols and an Uzi. There was plenty of ammunition, too, including bullets strewn on the floor and in the ashtray. A change of clothing, including tennis shoes and a sports jacket, also lay inside.

The warrant said that one of the two guns used in the attack was registered to Fukuto, but the other belonged to a high school friend, Takeshi (Tash) Nomiya. Nomiya refused to comment Thursday, but his parents said they were shocked that Fukuto might have his gun, because the two men have not seen each other in several years.

In the affidavit to obtain the search warrant, police said they had already searched near a stairwell where Fukuto apparently planned to escape and found a backpack, which contained a police scanner, sunglasses, shoes and a sports coat.

Times staff writer James Rainey contributed to this story.