Veteran Kills Fellow VA Patient, Then Self

A drug rehabilitation patient shot and killed another patient outside a Veterans Administration care facility Wednesday morning, and then fled about a mile before taking his own life, officials said.

The victim, Armando Ballesteros, 53, of San Fernando, was shot several times at close range and died at the scene, according to Det. Mike Oppelt of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police identified the gunman as Philip Charles Goins, 52, of Sylmar. Goins, a Vietnam veteran according to acquaintances, lived at least part of the time with his mother in a trailer park.

Neighbors said police had been called to the trailer park at least twice because of disputes involving Goins.

“When he took his medication he was a really nice guy,” said Jim Kelly, manager of the Blue Star Trailer Park. “When he wasn’t, he was hard to get along with.”

Neighbor Bill Fulkerson said that on one occasion, he told police that Goins “was a powder keg waiting to go off.”

Ballesteros was remembered by relatives as a kind man.

“He lived with my parents and took care of them,” said his brother, Fred. “My folks are 79 and 78, and he watched over them.”

The shooting at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, 16111 W. Plummer St., happened during an argument between the two men, Oppelt said. But he is not sure what the altercation was about.

“I’m told they knew one another,” Oppelt said.

Police said that after Goins used a handgun to shoot Ballesteros, he then shot several times at a fleeing witness, but the witness was uninjured.

The shooting occurred at about 11:45 a.m. near the entrance of a building that police said houses the outpatient drug treatment center.

Goins fled the scene in a blue Ford Thunderbird, according to LAPD Lt. Jerry Nicholson. He headed north on Haskell Avenue for several blocks to Devonshire Street before colliding with another Ford Thunderbird.

Goins then jumped out of his car and ran into the backyard of a home as police gave chase. While there, he apparently shot himself in the head, Oppelt said. He was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Granada Hills, where he was pronounced dead at about 1:10 p.m., Oppelt said.

The outpatient drug facility at the Sepulveda center mostly functions as a methadone clinic, according to Beverly Fitzgerald, a VA spokeswoman. She said the gunman and the victim were being treated at the clinic.

The center, which opened in 1956, provides outpatient care for about 17,000 veterans.

Philip Thomas, chief executive of the VA Health Care System for Greater Los Angeles, called Wednesday’s shooting a tragedy that will cause the massive health care program to reevaluate its security.

The shooting occurred one day before Veterans Day. But Thomas said there would be no change in local plans for observing the holiday.

“This is a random act of violence and a tragedy and it is indeed unfortunate,” he said. “But the Veterans Day observances still need to occur.”

VA volunteer Herb Apfel said more patients are usually at the center than were there Wednesday. Many were on a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm for an early Veterans Day celebration. “Could you imagine what a manslaughter it would have been if all those people were here?” Apfel said.

Goins’ neighbors said he claimed to be an expert in using several types of guns. Fulkerson said Goins sometimes became belligerent for seemingly no reason.

“One time when I was barbecuing, I looked up and he was standing there,” Fulkerson said. “He said to me, ‘Every time I goddamn come out here, someone is looking at me.’ ”

Fulkerson also said police were called when Goins shoved an elderly woman he accused of crossing his “property.”

Kelly, who is also a Vietnam veteran, said he sometimes talked with Goins about their war experiences. “He said to me, ‘I guess you’ve seen some pretty bad things,’ and I said ‘Yeah,’ ” Kelly said. “He said, ‘I guess I don’t handle it as well as you do.’ ”

Ballesteros is survived by a 26-year-old daughter, Felicia, relatives said. He served three years in the Army in the 1960s and was injured in Germany when the hatch of the tank he was riding in fell and crushed his fingers, Fred Ballesteros said.

His niece Delia Aguilar, 41, described him as a kind man who cared for neighborhood cats and cleaned the yard and house for his parents.

“He was a really good uncle,” she said. “Uncle was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Times staff writers Irene Garcia, Karen Robinson-Jacobs and Kristina Sauerwein contributed to this story.

Hospital Shooting

A drug rehabilitation patient shot and killed another patient Wednesday, then fled briefly before taking his own life.

1. Patient shot in front of outpatient care facility.

2. Suspect flees in car.

3. Suspect collides with another vehicle and leaves on foot.

4. Suspect shoots himself.