Father Dies, Daughter Rescued After Standoff

CHATSWORTH —  A man reportedly despondent over painful back problems was found dead in his home of an apparent drug and alcohol overdose early Tuesday by members of the Los Angeles police SWAT team called to rescue the man’s 6-year-old daughter.

The girl was unharmed and still sleeping despite a number of gunshots fired in the house by her father and mother earlier in the night, police said.

Don Smith, 36, was scheduled to undergo a third back operation today and was apparently afraid he would be left paralyzed, relatives said. Smith, a painting contractor, had been drinking during the night, as well as taking pain medication, his neighbors and relatives said.

“This had been escalating for a few weeks now,” said Smith’s sister-in-law, Sharon Biro. “He grew fearful over time. The waiting, the anticipation, the anxiety of doing it was just too much.”

Biro said Smith’s third back surgery had been postponed for a month after his doctors disagreed over whether he needed the operation.

“He was all ready for it,” she said. “Then they canceled it and rescheduled it. He couldn’t stand the pain anymore and he was so angry with his doctors.”

Police arrived at the home in the 10600 block of Alabama Avenue at 2:45 a.m. following reports of gunfire. Smith’s wife, Jean, ran out of the house to meet police and told them her daughter was still inside.

The couple had been arguing over the pending operation. Jean Smith had fired a gun to keep her husband away, and he then got his own weapon, said LAPD spokesman Lt. Anthony Alba.

“She fired a gun in the residence in fear of him, and he picked up [another] gun and went looking for her,” Alba said. “It’s not clear if he was looking to harm her, but he did shoot a few rounds as she huddled in a closet with a phone and called the police.”

Two windows in the couple’s Ford Bronco were shattered by gunfire, but no one was hurt.

For the next several hours, police tried to reach Smith by telephone and then by bullhorn, but he did not respond.

Shortly after 7 a.m., SWAT officers climbed through an upstairs window to retrieve the sleeping girl and found Smith’s body in an upstairs hallway. An autopsy is scheduled.

Biro said Smith and his wife did not have a violent marriage. “He was in pain and angry,” she said.

Several neighbors who had been evacuated to a nearby convalescent home early Tuesday described Smith as “a nice man, and a nice neighbor.” He and his family had moved into the house about two years ago.

Many of his neighbors speculated he may have also had financial worries, brought on by a drop in his contracting business over the last year.

“Sometimes you can only take so much,” said one neighbor who declined to give his name. “It’s a shame he had to do it, he was so young.”