Pellet Gun Used in O.C. Hostage Drama

An angry father who held two Orange County school board officials hostage this week was armed with a pellet gun when he was shot to death by police, the district attorney’s office confirmed Friday.

“It was a very realistic-looking pellet gun,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans.

The prosecutor would not say whether the pellet gun carried by Michael P. Generakos was loaded at the time and declined to make any further comment on the case.

Generakos, 45, was involved in a three-hour hostage drama on Tuesday at the Costa Mesa headquarters of the Orange County Department of Education. The two hostages, Associate Supt. John Nelson and Deputy Supt. Lynn Hartline, were eventually released unharmed.

The hostages, as well as police, said they suspect Generakos wanted police to end his life. The Lakewood man had been involved in a long-running battle with officials over the education program of his 16-year-old son, a student at University High School in Irvine who is deaf and losing his eyesight.

Generakos had bitterly opposed putting his son in a Braille class, a plan favored by his ex-wife and the Board of Education. His opposition to this plan is partly why his ex-wife was granted custody of their two children this fall after living with their father for many years, according to court documents.

Generakos had been railing against education officials at their public meetings and in persistent telephone calls. He sometimes told officials that he owned a gun. They were concerned enough to enlist extra security at board meetings and at his son’s school.

Two hours into Tuesday’s ordeal, Hartline was released. An hour later, Generakos went outside with Nelson, with the pellet gun pointed at Nelson’s back. Generakos ignored police orders to drop his gun and was shot in the left side of the head by a rooftop sniper, police said.