Man Bought Gun a Week Before Simi Valley Rampage

A Thousand Oaks man who went on a shooting rampage inside his ex-girlfriend’s Simi Valley home earlier this month bought a gun a week before the attack and left a note explaining his actions, according to court documents.

The note, left on 24-year-old Maria Calderon’s front porch by Reynaldo Rodriguez, stated that he had contracted the HIV virus and blamed her.

“The note stated he decided to die in Maria’s arms,” according to a search warrant affidavit filed last week.

Authorities believe Rodriguez, a 35-year-old Caltrans engineer, intended to kill Calderon after she ended their relationship. He apparently shot himself in the head during a pursuit in Los Padres National Forest two days after the rampage.

Calderon had told Rodriguez that she had tested negative for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But Rodriguez “did not accept the test results and was angry with her,” the affidavit said.

Calderon was not at her family’s Yurok Court home Sept. 5 when Rodriguez, who was identified by witnesses, arrived with a loaded 9-millimeter handgun.

He shot five members of Calderon’s family, killing her grandmother, Esperanza Martinez, 80; her brother, Ricardo Calderon, 11; and her daughter, Shantal Rios, 4, police said. A sister, Lucia Vargas, 19, and brother, Rigoberto Calderon, 16, survived their wounds.

A third brother jumped to safety from a second-floor window.

Rodriguez fled, eluding authorities for two days before U.S. Forest Service rangers spotted his rented sport utility vehicle at a campground north of Ojai.

As Ventura County sheriff’s deputies approached the vehicle, Rodriguez jumped out and ran into the woods. His body was found a short time later slumped behind a rock in a meadow, a handgun lying nearby.

An autopsy determined that Rodriguez was not infected with HIV, a coroner’s investigator said.

A police investigation is still open, pending lab and ballistics tests, said Simi Valley Police Lt. Rex Jones. Court documents show police immediately suspected Rodriguez and were trying to obtain a warrant to search his home, his parents’ home and several vehicles within hours of the shootings.

Rodriguez had purchased a 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol a week before the shootings and rented a Ford Explorer a day before, the affidavit said.

After his death, detectives found an empty Smith & Wesson magazine inside a black sports bag in the vehicle. They also found a Bible, a box of photographs and a pair of black shoes with reddish stains, according to the warrant information.

During a search of Rodriguez’s house, which detectives believe he tried to set on fire, authorities found a photograph of Rodriguez with Calderon. Detectives also found bottles of anti-anxiety and antipsychotic medication at his parents’ home.