Man Shot Was in Witness Protection Program

A man gunned down Wednesday night in the driveway of his Ingomar Street home had been placed in a witness protection program after receiving death threats over his anticipated testimony in an upcoming trial in Van Nuys, authorities said Friday.

James Navaroli, 36, was expected to testify against a man accused of three commercial burglaries in the West Valley, police said.

After being threatened in connection with the case, Navaroli was relocated to an apartment outside the West Valley to avoid contact with the defendant in the burglary case, said Det. Rick Swanston of the LAPD’s West Valley Division.

Swanston said police were footing the bill for Navaroli’s apartment but that he ignored the advice of detectives and without warning moved back to the West Valley about three weeks ago.

“The detectives went to get him for court, and he was gone,” Swanston said. “We couldn’t find him.”

Authorities declined to identify the defendant in the burglary case. But one prosecutor said the man did not have prior convictions for violent crimes, and that, if convicted of the burglary charges he would have faced a maximum sentence of about four years in prison.

Swanston said the defendant in the burglary case has not been cleared as a suspect in Navaroli’s slaying. He declined to say whether the man--out on bail--had been questioned by detectives.

“It’s a sensitive stage of the investigation,” he said, adding that Navaroli’s expected testimony provides a potential motive in the killing.

Navaroli and his girlfriend of five years were shot about 10:45 p.m. as they stepped from their pickup truck. Their assailant had apparently been waiting for them, police said.

Navaroli, who was hit in the head and upper torso, died at the scene. His girlfriend, whose name is being withheld for her protection, was hit several times in the upper torso, but is expected to survive. She is recovering at an undisclosed hospital.

Although unable to speak, the woman indicated through gestures that the attacker was a lone gunman. She also provided detectives with a possible motive in the attack, but police declined to release that information.

The killing is the second in less than a month in connection with witnesses testifying in trials at Van Nuys Superior Court.

On Oct. 23 a San Jose man was shot to death in apparent retaliation for his son’s testimony against members of the Asian Boyz street gang. In that case, which remains unsolved, the family of Dong Dinh blamed Los Angeles authorities for not warning them that Truong Dinh’s testimony against his former fellow gang members may have represented a threat to the family.

But Elmo Navaroli did not blame police in his son’s killing.

“He was advised by the police to stay away from the West Valley,” the elder Navaroli said. “He didn’t follow through with that, and that was his own decision.”