Dymally aide in apparent murder-suicide

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) and his staff were described as “devastated” Saturday after an apparent murder-suicide involving a senior aide to the legislator.

Michael J. Robbins, 67, who was long active in Los Angeles political circles, apparently shot his wife, Kim Gehring, 48, and then himself after an argument at their Baldwin Hills home late Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Police arriving at the home spotted Gehring’s body through a first-floor window but didn’t see Robbins, according to Officer Karen Smith, an LAPD spokeswoman.

Fearing that Robbins had barricaded himself in the house, police summoned SWAT officers, who found his body in an upstairs room.

Dymally was also called to the scene to negotiate with Robbins, if necessary.

A spokeswoman for the assemblyman declined to say whether he arrived before Robbins died or whether the two men spoke.

“Our entire staff is very devastated, very heartbroken and very hurt right now,” said the spokeswoman, Jasmyne Cannick. “My boss is taking it very hard, because he handpicks his staff and runs his office like it’s a family. So he is devastated.”

Robbins was a longtime field representative for Dymally and served as a campaign consultant to other political figures, including Dymally’s daughter, Lynn, who was a member of the Compton Unified School District board in the early 1990s.

In 1995, Robbins was convicted of two counts of grand theft in a scheme that involved taking money to obtain loans for people who never received them.

mitchell.landsberg@latimes.com