Officer Spoke of Suicide Before Killing

The LAPD officer who gunned down a Simi Valley man Saturday over a romantic rivalry was depressed and asked for a gun so he could kill himself before his rage for the other man led to bloodshed, the officer’s father said Sunday.

“He said, ‘I feel so worthless I want you to give me one of your service revolvers,’ ” said Victor Colello, father of Geno Patrick Colello, who killed Keith Thomas Ewing then turned his weapon on himself.

Colello, a retired LAPD officer, said his son told him, “I’m building up hatred for her new boyfriend. If you don’t do it I’m going to kill him and me and, what good would that do? I have rage building up inside me for this man.”

The younger Colello seemed serious enough about his threats that his father convinced him Thursday to check into a Northridge hospital, Colello said. But Colello apparently convinced doctors he was feeling fine and left the facility on Friday, according to his father.

Colello said his son’s depression stemmed from two vehicle accidents that occurred on the job, including one in which the younger Colello shot and killed a suspect as the two struggled in the suspect’s car. He had been under a psychiatrist’s care for the depression, said an angry and bitter elder Colello, who added that his son told him he had been informed that he was going to be fired from the LAPD for poor performance.

“I do have a problem with the way the department handles officers with problems that they were the cause of,” said Victor Colello. “That’s not the way the family is supposed to treat each other.”

The pain from his son’s accidents caused stress on his relationship with Diane Williams and prompted him to ask her to move out several weeks ago, Colello said. He added that shortly thereafter, his son learned of Williams’ relationship with Ewing.

Colello provided few details of the first accident, which occurred in his son’s rookie year on the force and prompted a one-year convalescence. But details of the second incident were outlined in documents obtained by the Times.

The department ruled that Colello was justified in shooting and killing a paroled double-murderer in Tarzana in 1996 during a struggle in the front seat of the suspect’s speeding car.

The incident left the vehicle wrecked against a Ventura Boulevard taco stand, and Colello trapped briefly in it with the bleeding victim, William Betzner, according to police reports.

Records show the incident began when officers followed Betzner’s vehicle after an apparent traffic violation, confronting him after Betzner left his car and began rummaging through a construction site.

During questioning, Betzner ran to his car, with Colello grabbing him, and managed to get the vehicle in motion with Colello pinned to the front seat, according to an LAPD review of the shooting. The two struggled while the car reached speeds estimated at 60-70 mph and Betzner, 48, punched and elbowed Colello, vowing that they would die together.

Colello managed to draw his weapon and shot Betzner in the head from about a foot away, according to the report. Colello was treated for a dislocated left knee, separated left shoulder and head lacerations, according to the report.

Six months later, while off-duty, Colello allegedly helped his father, Victor Colello, an LAPD motorcycle patrol officer, swap parts from a department-issued bike to the elder Colello’s “movie bike,” a vehicle he used for off-duty film work, according to internal LAPD reports.

The younger Colello was investigated by the department for acquiescing to the theft and failing to report it, but was cleared of any wrongdoing by a Board of Rights panel in 1998.

Although the district attorney’s office said Victor Colello “clearly embezzled parts,” according to documents, it did not file criminal charges, and left the matter to the department to handle. Colello, a 25-year veteran of the force, retired shortly thereafter.

During a hearing into the incident, Foothill Cmdr. Tim McBride vouched for the younger Colello’s reputation, noting, “He’s been through a significant incident that most officers only have in their nightmares. And he had to live through that experience.”

In another incident, a departmental review panel found “insufficient evidence” to uphold allegations that Colello looked the other way while other officers locked a suspect in their cruiser on a hot August day in 1997 and briefly turned up the vehicle’s heat. Autopsies revealed that Ewing, 34, died of “multiple gunshot wounds” while Colello, 35, a seven-year officer assigned to community affairs in the troubled Rampart Division, died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

Authorities say Colello pulled up to Ewing’s house in the 1800 block of Sutter Avenue, near Rancho Simi Community Park, at about 3 p.m. and fired about five shots at Ewing as the latter washed his car in the driveway. Colello then turned the gun on himself.

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Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this story.