Man Kills Neighbor, Then Shoots Himself

A Van Nuys man, possibly despondent about being unemployed and looking to settle an earlier argument, shot and killed a neighbor in his apartment building early Tuesday, then turned the gun on himself. The man died later at a local hospital.

Police say Gilbert Medina, 46, armed with a shotgun and a handgun, shot off the locks on an apartment door in the 14600 block of Sylvan Street just after midnight Tuesday and entered.

Hector Quintero, 26, was sleeping on the living room floor when Medina burst in, according to police spokeswoman Cherie Clair.

Patty Corona, who was sleeping with her husband and 2-year-old son in a back room, said Quintero, her brother-in-law, was helpless in the situation. “He said, ‘I haven’t done anything to you. Why are you here?’ ”

Medina apparently opened fire on Quintero, shooting him several times in the chest, police said. He died at the scene.

Corona said through an interpreter that she and her family hid behind a blind that separated the living room from the bedroom, fearing that they too would be shot.

While a neighbor called police, Corona said, Medina “heard the helicopters and said, ‘Oh, the police.’ That’s when he put the gun to his head.”

Clair said Medina fired one shot to the back of his head and collapsed. He died a short time later at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.

Police said that minutes before Medina burst into the couple’s apartment, he called his sister saying he planned to kill a man in the building.

About two hours before the shooting, Medina was acting strangely, neighbors said.

Some neighbors thought Medina and Hector Quintero had argued hours before the shooting, but Quintero’s family said Hector hardly knew anyone in the building.

Hector Quintero moved from San Francisco to his brother’s Van Nuys apartment just two weeks ago.

Elida Gonzalez, the apartment manager, said Medina lost his job in November as an electrician at the Walt Disney Co. He was frustrated when his unemployment check was delayed earlier this month and he couldn’t pay his full rent, Gonzalez said.