North Hills Nursing Home Shooting Was Apparent Mercy Killing

By City News Service

A 60-year-old Canyon Country man allegedly fatally shot his wife, who was suffering from dementia, then went to a North Hills nursing facility and gunned down his ailing sister Wednesday in what police called an apparent pair of mercy killings.

Los Angeles police initially responded to a shooting at 9:20 a.m. at the nursing facility in the 9600 block of North Sepulveda Boulevard, according to Los Angeles police Officer Rosario Herrera. Police said 58-year-old Lisa Nave, who had been at the facility for five years and was unconscious, was found shot to death in her bed.

Her brother was arrested at the nursing facility, and a gun was recovered, police said. Los Angeles police Lt. Paul Vernon said the suspect set the gun down after shooting his sister in the head, then walked into a patio area and waited for police to arrive.

The brother's name was not immediately released.

At about 10 a.m., meanwhile, an 80-year-old woman was found shot to death at a home in the 26800 block of Claudette Street in Canyon Country, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Craig Harvey of the coroner's office.

Vernon said a relative of Nave contacted authorities after learning of her death in North Hills and expressed concern about the shooting suspect's wife, who was suffering from dementia. That led to the discovery of the woman's body in Canyon Country, he said.