No Criminal Charges to Be Filed in Fatal Shooting of Landlord

Prosecutors will not file criminal charges against an 18-year-old Woodland Hills woman who fatally shot her landlord last month, allegedly to halt a sexual assault.

Karen Walkden shot James Galido in the chest April 23.

She told Los Angeles police that Galido, a 31-year-old stockbroker, followed her into the garage apartment she was renting from him and began making threatening statements.

Fearing for her safety, Walkden said, she went to her bedroom to get a shotgun she had recently purchased for security. She said Galido grabbed hold of the weapon, and that the gun went off as she pulled it way. Galido died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

In the days after the shooting, dozens of Galido’s friends and family members called police, insisting that the former seminary student was not capable of attacking anyone.

But officials said evidence--including powder burns on the dead man’s hands--tended to support Walkden’s version of events.

“All the evidence corroborates her story,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond said Tuesday. “There’s no proof a crime was committed.”