1 Dead, 1 Wounded in Shooting at Repair Shop

A gunman, apparently angry over a business dispute, opened fire at an auto repair shop in Pacoima on Friday, killing the owner and wounding the manager, who ran across the street and collapsed at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division station.

“It was chaotic,” said LAPD Sgt. Rick Webb, the first officer on the scene. “You always think something like this is going to happen everywhere else but here.”

Webb said he ran to Moti’s Auto Electric Inc., at the intersection of San Fernando Road and Osborne Street, shortly before noon after hearing gunfire as he was at a nearby hamburger stand.

“I heard shots fired and (saw) people pointing down the street, so I ran over,” said Webb, who was quickly joined by two other officers. “The suspect was standing at the mouth of one of the garages, so we told him to come out with his hands up.”

Fred Araya, 63, of Pacoima was arrested at the scene and taken to the Foothill station, where he was being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

Police discovered the shop’s owner, Moti Arazi, 54, of Northridge, dead inside a Ford van parked in one of the shop’s garages. The shop’s manager, Michael Kinney, 38, of Winnetka, was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center with a gunshot wound in his shoulder.

LAPD Lt. Joe Garcia said the incident apparently stemmed from a dispute over a business venture between the victims and Araya. A semiautomatic pistol was recovered at the scene.

Frantic family members rushed to the business, where they learned that Arazi had been fatally shot.

News of the slaying shocked friends and customers who estimated that Moti had been operating his business from the Pacoima location for 20 years or more.

“Moti was a real nice man,” said Daniel Rodriguez, 21, who was with his son at the hamburger stand. “Moti worked really hard. He was just trying to make an honest living.”