Simi Rape Suspect Dies in Apparent Suicide : Crime: Neighbors hear two shots from the man’s house. SWAT team finds his body with a gunshot wound in the head.

A Simi Valley man suspected of raping the 16-year-old daughter of an acquaintance took his own life, Simi Valley police said Saturday.

The shooting occurred Friday after the 16-year-old girl ran from John Grepiotis’ house in Parker Court and called police from a nearby home, saying she had been raped.

Meanwhile, neighbors heard two gunshots from Grepiotis’ house and also called police.

A SWAT team and Simi Valley policemen arrived at Grepiotis’ home at 8:17 p.m.

After an attempt to telephone Grepiotis, 40, a crisis negotiation team was called to the site, but members failed to get any response.

The SWAT team then blasted tear gas into the home before entering and finding Grepiotis dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his head.

“I observed the body and there was every indication that this was a suicide,” said Simi Valley Police Lt. Neil Rein.

An autopsy was scheduled for today to determine the exact cause of death, according to the Ventura County coroner’s office.

In front of Grepiotis’ well-tended lawn in a middle-class Simi Valley neighborhood, his relatives and neighbors gathered Saturday afternoon to discuss their shock and anger.

“He’s not the type who would shoot himself,” said Grepiotis’ younger sister, a Thousand Oaks resident who declined to give her name. “He wasn’t the depressed type, he wasn’t mean or violent. He was very giving.”

An avid hunter, Grepiotis owned at least two guns and had ammunition for them, said his housemate and younger brother, Joe, who moved into the house two years ago. The family grew up in Virginia, but several siblings moved to the Conejo Valley years ago.

“My brother was not the type to take his own life,” Joe Grepiotis said. “He was not the violent type, and he had more friends than anyone could shake a stick at.”

Grepiotis’ sister and brother described him as an entrepreneur who invested in real estate. He had just bought the house next door, fixed it up and leased it, they said.

Neighbors said he had gutted and renovated the inside of his home.

“He took such pride in his house,” said Amelia Simmons, who lives across the street. “He was such a wonderful person. He was a very good neighbor.”

A fitness buff, Grepiotis worked out in a gym regularly, studied martial arts and walked his three dogs around the block every day, friends and neighbors said.

Mike Kubanski, 23, who lives down the street, described Grepiotis as a “nice, friendly guy” who would stop by and chat as he walked his dogs.

This is the second killing in a year and a half to rock the quiet neighborhood, which is lined with well-tended ranch-style homes.

A former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy was shot dead by Simi Valley police in a barrage of gunfire Dec. 3, 1991.

Bernard Edward Fernandez was killed after police responded to a gunfight between Fernandez and a man whose wife Fernandez was pursuing.

But at least one neighbor wasn’t worried about crime.

“I feel real safe here,” said Paul Wheeler, who lives a block from Grepiotis. “This is an extremely nice neighborhood. We never have any activity here. Everybody knows everybody, and if there’s a stranger around, we’ll call the cops.”