Hermosa Beach : Sniper Terrorizes Couple

A sniper fired about 10 small-caliber bullets into the 24th Place home of an elderly couple during the past week and a half and shot at two police officers who went to investigate.

Police have no suspects. The residents, Henry Rado, 77, and his wife Doris, were home each time the shots were fired through their living room window.

“I don’t know what it’s all about,� Henry Rado said Wednesday. “ . . . I don’t know what’s causing it.�

The latest shooting occurred shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday. After police came, two shots were fired above the heads of a neighbor and Officers Steve Endom, 30, and William Vincent, 26.

Traffic was diverted around the area for about four hours while police searched for the gunman. The Manhattan Beach SWAT team and a Los Angeles County’s Sheriff’s Department helicopter helped in Tuesday’s investigation.

Rado had called police three times beginning Nov. 10, when three bullets were fired through his window. About half a dozen more bullets were fired into the home in two incidents last Friday.

“It appears, based on the grouping of the shots, that they’re pretty well placed,� said Wally Moore, spokesman for the Hermosa Beach Police Department. “It’s not like they’re placed randomly.�

The shots are being fired from the west or southwest, perhaps from some distance away, and a silencer may have been placed on the gun, Moore said. “We’re pleading to the public for help because somebody had to hear those shots in their neighborhood, unless they were silenced. But even then, maybe somebody saw something,� he said.