Man Kills Wife, Himself at Restaurant

A 55-year-old man shot and killed his estranged wife Tuesday in front of lunchtime customers at a North Hollywood restaurant, then fatally shot himself after police surrounded the building.

The unidentified couple arrived at Don Felix, a Peruvian restaurant in the 6000 block of Lankershim Boulevard, about 12:30 p.m. and sat down among a dozen other diners, said LAPD Det. Mike Coffey.

“There was no argument, and some patrons said the couple were laughing” during lunch, Coffey said.

Twenty minutes into the meal, the man pulled out a .357 revolver and shot his 38-year-old wife twice. Customers ran through the back door and huddled in a parking lot, Coffey said.

A woman who identified herself as the restaurant owner said the man calmly spoke on his cell phone for about 10 minutes after he killed his wife. In the meantime, police arrived, but they did not immediately enter the restaurant, Coffey said.

The officers could not see into the restaurant through its drawn blinds. “We didn’t want to just rush in there,” Det Vince Bancroft said. “We didn’t know the situation inside the restaurant.”

When the officers heard a gunshot, they entered and found the man dead with a head wound.

The couple’s names had not been released, pending notification of relatives. Coffey said they had been married for two years but were living separately in the San Fernando Valley. She had a child, 8 to 10 years old, and he had several adult children. They had no children together.

The restaurant owner, who asked to be identified only as Julia, said she had never seen the couple before. They were well dressed, “seemed normal and just wanted to eat,” she said. The owner was in the back of the restaurant with her son when she heard the first gunshots.

As she kept an eye on the gunman from the rear door, she said, “I was very nervous. He was very calm on his cell phone. He then shot the gun in his mouth.”