Parents Plan Funeral for Slain Teenager

The parents of a slain Thousand Oaks teenager on Sunday prepared to bury their son, as a Simi Valley garage owner remained in jail on suspicion of fatally shooting the 17-year-old boy.

Police say Leonard Anthony Coppola was shot once in the head and killed Friday night while trying to unlock a chain-link gate outside the motorcycle and watercraft repair shop where he worked.

“It’s just awful,” said Judy Forman, who lives next door to Coppola’s parents, whom she described as grief-stricken. “And they’re doing just as well as can be expected under the circumstances. Leonard was his mom’s only son, and she’s lost him in a terrible tragedy.”

She described the dark-haired teenager as extremely polite, adding he was not currently attending school and that he had built a bulky frame by working construction jobs.

She said the teen’s parents told her that Coppola had gone to the shop to prepare for a weekend camping trip.

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said Sunday that police are investigating whether some sort of confrontation led to the shooting. But he insisted that the slaying. the fifth in the city this year, is no sign that Simi Valley’s status as one of the nation’s safest cities is slipping.

“There’s no amount of crime prevention that could have prevented this,” Stratton said.

According to investigators, Coppola’s rattling of a gate about 9:15 p.m. in front of the motorcycle shop where a friend worked apparently woke up Edward Nishida Drake, who owns an auto shop nearby. Drake had been living at his business.

Apparently mistaking the youth for a burglar, Drake allegedly shot Coppola once in the head with a high-caliber handgun. Police said Coppola was with his friend when he was shot, but did not disclose the person’s name.

On Sunday, Coppola’s mother, Margaret Kestly, and stepfather, Thomas Kestly, made funeral arrangements. Through the funeral director at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary in Westlake Village, the couple said they would have no public comment on their son’s death.

Authorities also would not discuss the slain teen’s background but said they expected to have more information on the shooting today.

An obituary released by the funeral home states that Leonard Coppola was an avid motorcyclist. Coppola, who was born in Van Nuys and moved to Ventura County 15 years ago, had worked at Gluck Development for a year, the statement said.

Family members gathered Sunday at the Kestlys’ home in a quiet, upscale neighborhood on oak-studded La Jolla Drive.

Meanwhile, neighbors of Drake were shocked at the slaying, describing the homicide suspect as reserved and low-key.

“He always seemed like a mellow, nice guy,” said Eric Barnitz, who lives across the street from Drake’s home in an unincorporated neighborhood of one-story stucco homes near the northern border of Simi Valley.

Like other neighbors, Barnitz noted that Drake is a motorcycle and automobile enthusiast. Drake, the father of a teenage daughter and son, loves camping and talking about motorbikes, Barnitz said.

Neighbor Jim Maguire said Drake frequently drove different models of Mercedes home from his garage. He said Drake occasionally demonstrated a temper but was generally “a passive guy.”

Others noted that Drake was apparently having marital problems and living elsewhere.

“He’s not the type of person who would just blow it,” said one neighbor, who declined to be identified. “This must have been a mistake.”

Drake is being held at Ventura County Jail in lieu of $255,000 bail and is to be arraigned Tuesday. Of that bail amount, $5,000 was for failing to appear in court on charges of driving a vehicle without a license.

Funeral services for Coppola will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Pierce Brothers-Griffin Mortuary, 101 E. Wilbur Road, Thousand Oaks.