Standoff Ends as Gunman Kills Himself

A suicidal gunman fired several rifle shots at Los Angeles police officers and took cover at a residence Sunday, fatally shooting a horse, a dog and finally himself and forcing the closure of a freeway for several hours, authorities said.

And in an unusual twist, Los Angeles police late Sunday said they believed the dead man some years ago also had been their prime suspect in the highly publicized 1985 shooting of Judy Kanan, a descendant of a pioneer Agoura family. But prosecutors after a long review never filed criminal charges in that case, citing insufficient evidence.

No officers or area residents were injured during a more than two-hour standoff Sunday between the gunman and police on Gladstone Avenue, said Officer Lorie Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

The gunman, identified by police as Michael Kanan, 39, shot himself in the head at about 1:25 p.m. Police had received the initial call of a man with a gun in the Sylmar neighborhood near the Foothill Freeway at 11:07 a.m.

Police summoned a bomb squad after finding a device believed to be explosive strapped to the dead man’s torso. The device turned out to be a safety flare inside a container, police said.

“Our indications are that he was somewhat despondent over a recent death in the family,” an aunt, said Lt. Joseph Garcia, commanding officer at the LAPD’s Foothill Division.

Garcia said Michael Kanan’s mother, who police believe lives at 13371 Gladstone Ave., and several other relatives had been at the scene but left without being harmed or taken hostage. Officers said they believe Michael Kanan also lived at the house, but neighbors said they never saw him around the property.

The standoff led the California Highway Patrol to close the Foothill Freeway from its interchange with the Simi Valley Freeway to Polk Street for several hours, said Kerri Hawkins, a CHP spokeswoman.

Taylor said officers arrived at 13371 Gladstone Ave. shortly after 11 a.m. and were greeted by three rifle shots.

“The suspect barricaded himself” at the scene, which includes a large yard and white wooden house with brick foundation set several feet from the street. Behind it are sheds and a barn-like structure.

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Officers surrounded the property, where since early Sunday morning Michael Kanan had been moving around and occasionally firing gunshots into the air.

At about 1:25 p.m, the gunman fired his last shot. “He killed himself,” Taylor said.

Garcia said Kanan was carrying a handgun in addition to an “assault-type rifle.”

On a search of the property, authorities discovered the corpses of a horse and a dog that had been shot.

Officers thought the incident was over, but then realized Kanan was wearing a possibly explosive device. A bomb squad examined the device, and police announced late Sunday afternoon that it was harmless.

Kanan was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

Foothill Division Det. Patty Ferguson said police believe the Michael Kanan who died Sunday was the same man suspected of the Woodland Hills homicide of Judy Kanan, another aunt, 10 1/2 years ago on the basis of the common first name and common age. The Kanan who died Sunday was 39 and the suspect in the prior case was 34 in 1991, almost five years ago, when prosecutors declined to file charges.

“We believe it’s the same person,” Ferguson said.

Judy Kanan, 68 at the time of her death, was a descendant of the family that settled Agoura in the 1860s. She was shot four times by a masked gunman wearing a raincoat who approached her at a Woodland Hills stable on July 29, 1985, where she had stopped to feed the horses she kept there. The killer escaped.

But, in early 1990, an informant--who said he was troubled by feelings of guilt--told police that Michael Kanan, the son of the victim’s brother, was the gunman. According to court records, the informant said the slaying was motivated by long-simmering family tensions brought to a head by a $2,600 loan from Judy Kanan to Michael Kanan’s father, George Richard Kanan.

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At the time, detectives felt no rush to arrest Michael Kanan because he was already in jail for violating his terms of probation on an unrelated burglary conviction. But in 1991, six years after the slaying, and even as police continued to call Michael Kanan their prime suspect, prosecutors concluded a lengthy review by taking no action. Michael Kanan always denied any part on the slaying.

On Sunday, several shaken Gladstone Avenue residents in Sylmar said they did not know Michael Kanan.

“As far as I know, he just went berserk and started shooting,” said Sharon Comproni. “I was scared to death. I was really, really scared.”

Neighbor Barbara Pfister said that the area normally is quiet and peaceful.

“I was shocked,” Pfister said. “It appeared as if it were a war zone to me.”

Hernandez is a Times staff writer and Folmar is a correspondent.