Murder-suicide in Gilroy leaves 11-year-old dead

[LadyBlue]

A U.S. military veteran who served in the Iraq War murdered his 11-year-old sister before killing himself in Gilroy, police said Thursday

Abel Gutierrez, 27, was the gunman in a murder-suicide that happened just before 9 p.m. Wednesday inside an apartment on the 9000 block of Kern Avenue, police Sgt. Chad Gallacinao said.


Police are urgently asking for the public's help in finding his missing mother, who they believe was also shot.


Martha Gutierrez, 52, of Gilroy, is either dead or needs immediate medical attention.


"We are trying desperately to find her," Gallacinao said.

Abel Gutierrez was a U.S. military veteran who had been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since returning home from Iraq, family members said. President Barack Obama declared an end to the War in Iraq and withdrew American combat forces in December 2011.


On Wednesday night, Abel Gutierrez shot his 11-year-old sister in the head before turning the gun on himself, Gallacinao said. The Gilroy Dispatch newspaper said the girl was a student at South Valley Middle School.
www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/hollister-gilroy/Cops-Murder-suicide-in-Gilroy-woman-missing/-/5738758/9322656/-/r9nw8dz/-/

[LadyBlue]

Police searching for the missing mother of an Iraq War veteran suspected in a murder-suicide said Friday they found signs of violence inside his car.

Officers found 27-year-old Abel Gutierrez’ green Ford Mustang at the apartment where he lived, with evidence that a shooting took place inside it, Gilroy police Sgt. Chad Gallacinao said. They also found his mother’s cellphone inside.

“There was evidence to suggest that there was someone who was a victim of a shooting and that there was a violent altercation in the car,” Gallacinao said.

Gutierrez fatally shot his sister Lucero, 11, before turning the gun on himself Thursday, police said. Family members told authorities they suspected he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Investigators have been searching for his mother, Martha Gutierrez, 52, but there was no sign of the woman.

“It’s horrible. We have no idea where she is,” Gallacinao told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We are desperately trying to find her.”

A roommate called police to the Gutierrez apartment Wednesday night. Arriving officers found the bodies of Gutierrez and his little sister dead from gunshot wounds.

Police said they had contact with Abel Gutierrez as recently as late last month but did not find that he was a danger to himself or his family.

Family members, however, told the San Jose Mercury News that Gutierrez said that he wanted to kill himself “all the time” and would ask if that would hurt them.

Faustino Gutierrez, 46, Martha Gutierrez’s brother, said the young veteran would sit on a sofa twirling a handgun and also brandished a rifle inside the family’s apartment. He had recently returned from Iraq.

“He said he killed a lot of people in Iraq,” Faustino Gutierrez said. “It was in his conscience, and he didn’t want to live anymore.”

A niece, Kristell Gutierrez, said she knew her uncle was “very mean” to his mother and blamed her for his father leaving the family.

In one instance, Gutierrez threw a plastic jug of laundry detergent at his mother, and the container broke on the outside stairs, according to Alissa Fernandez, a downstairs neighbor. As his mother and sister cleaned the mess, Gutierrez yelled, “Are you done?”

“She was scared of her son,” Fernandez told the Mercury News.

Gallacinao said officers found at least two firearms used in the killings, but he would not say whether Gutierrez left a suicide note.

Police had been called to his apartment on Feb. 29, but Gutierrez did not seem dangerous and did not meet the criteria to be placed on a psychiatric hold, Gallacinao said.

Instead, police began working with the family and Office of Veterans Affairs in Palo Alto to help him.

Gutierrez served in Iraq in 2009 to 2010 with Washington’s Army National Guard. He was in the process of transferring to California’s National Guard.

“We are struggling to come to grips with the tragic events that have unfolded, and we extend our deepest condolences to the friends and family of those who were lost,” Washington National Guard spokesman Keith Kosik said.

Gutierrez was active duty in the U.S. Army starting in 2005 and moved to the guard in 2008, said U.S. Army Maj. Jamie Davis.

Koski said Gutierrez had attended his last training weekend in Washington earlier this month.

Gutierrez had been receiving care at a VA facility in Puget Sound, Wash., confirmed Kerrie Childress, a spokeswoman for the Department of Veterans Affairs Care System in Palo Alto. She said she could not provide further details.

Jeri Rowe, public affairs director at the Puget Sound facility, said she was unable to confirm or release any information concerning Gutierrez because of privacy regulations.
www.washingtonpost.com/national/police-say-11-year-old-girl-27-year-old-iraq-war-vet-found-dead-in-murder-suicide-in-calif/2012/03/15/gIQArklDFS_story.html