Police: Dispute Between Tenant, Landlord Ends In Murder-Suicide

WEST LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – An argument between a landlord and tenant turned deadly Saturday when a man allegedly murdered his property manager and then turned the gun on himself.

Police said that they were responding to a shooting in the 2400 block of Colby Avenue shortly after midnight when they found the landlord dead inside his home. Alphonse Bernardin Jr., 80, was found sitting in a chair with two gunshot wounds to his upper body, according to LAPD spokesperson Sara Faden.

Officers later found a 56-year-old man lying dead on the ground, just outside the rear door of the residence, with a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police reported. Investigators also found a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun beside the victim.

"This is an apparent landlord/tenant dispute" over a rented converted garage that the younger man was living in, Faden said. "It appeared, that over the past few weeks, the suspect and victim had been involved in an on-going dispute."