Court Official, Wife Slain in Ambush Outside Home

A Los Angeles County court commissioner and his wife were slain in a shotgun ambush outside their fashionable home Thursday night, authorities said.

H. George Taylor, 68, had apparently just driven into his driveway and was hit in the head by one or more shotgun blasts through the driver’s window of his luxury sedan, according to the first neighbors to arrive at the scene. His wife, Lynda, dressed in her nightclothes and robe, apparently came out into the garage to investigate the noise and was also shot and killed, the neighbors said.

Taylor, a Superior Court commissioner for 13 years, was most recently assigned to the Norwalk courthouse. His wife was an occupational therapist.

The gunfire, which occurred about 9:30 p.m., rattled the quiet, upscale neighborhood in the foothills of Mt. Baldy. Just around the corner from the Taylors’ cul-de-sac, people who had been playing baseball at a nearby park were returning to their cars.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department disclosed little information about the shooting, refusing to confirm the identities of the couple or to speculate on a possible motive, suspects or whether there were any witnesses.

The victims’ identities were confirmed by neighbors and Los Angeles County court officials--who were later instructed by detectives not to further discuss the killings.

“I was watching basketball on TV when I heard the gunshots--five of them, and it sounded closer to a cannon than a cap gun,” said Larry Waggoner, who lives a few houses away. About the same time, he said, he heard a crash--presumably when Taylor’s still-running vehicle rammed into the corner of the garage.

Another neighbor said he was watching television when he heard one loud shot--sounding like a cherry bomb, he said--followed by a pause, then four more shots.

When he walked outside, he saw a car driving unusually fast down a nearby street.

The neighbors went to the Taylors’ beige stucco, mission-style home and discovered the carnage. They found Taylor slumped dead in his car, and his wife’s body on the garage floor.

Taylor was appointed a court commissioner by the judges of the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1986 after spending 24 years as a private practitioner and seven years as a deputy district attorney.

As a commissioner, he handled criminal, civil and family law cases in courts in downtown Los Angeles, Burbank, Downey and Norwalk. Grief counselors were dispatched to the Norwalk courthouse Friday.

Court commissioners have the same powers as judges except that all parties in a case must agree to let them preside.

The gunfire rattled the normally peaceful neighborhood; the Taylors lived on a cul-de-sac that forked off another cul-de-sac, just a block from a park and equestrian trails.

Neighborhood anxiety continued Friday morning after investigators discovered a suspicious package beneath the front doormat of the house and ordered the area evacuated because of concern the package could be an explosive device.

A bomb squad robot approached the package and took an X-ray that showed it contained clothing. But fear of a bomb delayed the investigation and the bodies remained in place for much of the day.

Whittier police said they are investigating whether the shooting might be linked to a series of arson fires that apparently targeted a lawyer who may have represented clients in Taylor’s court.

Criminal and family lawyer Edward A. Wilson lost his La Habra Heights house in an arson fire Wednesday that followed at least four other arson fires near Wilson’s law office.

“They worked in the same building. It could be a coincidence. We don’t know,” said Whittier Police Sgt. Ed Chiles.

Lynda Taylor had lived at the home for more than 25 years, dating back to a previous marriage, neighbors said. She and H. George Taylor married in 1989.

Raised in Pasadena, Taylor graduated from USC in 1951, served two years as a Navy lieutenant during the Korean War and afterward attended UCLA Law School, according to acquaintances in the Los Angeles County courts.

After graduating from law school in 1956, he became a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office, where he served seven years before going into private practice in the Pomona-Claremont area.

He handled a range of civil and criminal cases over the next two decades before he applied to be a Superior Court commissioner.

“He was a wonderful human being and a very, very good judge,” said David W. Perkins, who presides over the Downey Municipal Court. Perkins said he had appeared as a private attorney before Taylor. “I’ve known him for many years,” the judge said. “His death is a terrible loss.”

Taylor had three grown children from a previous marriage; his wife had two grown children.