Victim’s Cousin Sought in Card Game Killing

A Pacoima man was shot to death early Friday morning in an argument over a card game in Panorama City, Los Angeles police said. Police said they are searching for the man’s cousin in connection with the killing.

Arnoldo Rodriguez Chavez, 35, of Pacoima, and Pedro Garcia Chavez, 44, were playing cards about 1 a.m. in the older man’s apartment in the 8400 block of Ventura Canyon Boulevard when they began arguing, according to Detective Roger Pida.

Garcia Chavez’s wife told police she was awakened by shots. When she went to the living room, her husband was holding a gun as he stood over the dead man, Pida said.

When officers arrived they found Rodriguez Chavez dead, Pida said. Detective Lyle Mayer said the victim had been shot twice in the upper body with a handgun.

A family friend who was arriving at the apartment to join the card game told police he saw Garcia Chavez run from the apartment shortly after the shots, Pida said. An all-points bulletin was issued for Garcia Chavez, but, by late Friday night, the man, who works at a hospital, had not been arrested.