Man Who Protested Child Custody Case Kills Self

A man who had barricaded himself outside a courthouse last month for 13 hours to protest the loss of a child custody case committed suicide over the weekend, authorities said Monday.

David Earl Kooyman’s body was found by West Covina police inside a van shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday, police said. The 48-year-old had been shot in the head and a handgun was found by his side, said West Covina Police Lt. Mark Dettor. There was no note.

Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said the death has been ruled a suicide.

A police officer noticed Kooyman’s van parked in a furniture store parking lot on South Glendora Avenue and realized it was same one he had seen the night before, Dettor said. The officer then discovered the body.

On Jan. 12, Kooyman had parked his van near the Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court in Monterey Park to protest losing custody of his three children 17 months earlier. Authorities held about 350 people in the courthouse for several hours as a precaution.

After 13 hours, a sheriff’s SWAT team shattered a window on the van with a rubber bullet and blasted Kooyman out with water from a fire hose. He was placed under psychiatric observation and then released pending a court appearance, sheriff’s deputies said.