Man Kills Wife With Gun While Driving

A 77-year-old man fatally shot his wife Sunday as the couple drove to a grocery store in what he told police was an accident when he tried to wave the gun at a nearby car whose occupants had threatened him.

The man, whose name was not released late Sunday, was driving east on Warner Avenue and headed for the Ralphs supermarket near Golden West Street. He told police he shot his wife, also in her 70s, between Edwards Street and the shopping center.

The man pulled into the mall just west of the grocery store and placed a frantic call to paramedics from a video store.

Paramedics found the woman dead in the couple’s white Chevrolet Beretta when they arrived at the scene about 6:40 p.m., Police Lt. Dan Johnson said.

“It is a homicide,” Johnson said. “Whether it turns out to be a murder or a justifiable homicide or an accident is yet to be determined.”

A homicide detective was interviewing the man late Sunday night, Johnson said.

The couple lived just a few miles away and were going shopping at the time of the shooting, the man told police.

“They were on the way to the Ralphs, and he became frightened by a person going by,” Johnson said. “He took out this gun and was going to scare him away, and he accidentally shot her.”

It was unclear Sunday what the person in the other car had done to provoke the man.

The man told police he kept the weapon under the car seat.