As Police Surround Martial Arts Studio Investigating Possible Child Molestation, Suspect May Have Shot Himself To Death
VENTURA (CBSLA.com) — Police arrived on scene at a Ventura martial arts studio Wednesday to investigate two claims of child molestation.
As police moved into make an arrest, they said a gun went off.
Erica Nochlin on Wednesday evening spoke to parents who said they were shocked. They said they never had trouble with the martial arts school -- the United Studios of Self Defense.
Police said they were serving a search warrant on a man at the school located in the 1700 block of S. Victoria Avenue.
Workers at the school identified the man who shot himself as Sean Curtis, an instructor and the man who ran it.
Police said two different parents called to report their daughters -- both under the age of 14 -- were molested by a man who worked at the studio.
Martial arts student Dean Price Jr., 11, saw the police tape. It's how he learned he won't be coming back to class.
"Very sad right now, very disappointed," Price Jr. said.
He told his father he's never ever experienced anything but fun in the class.
"He told me if anyone was being weird or anything around there, and if anything was happening and I told him no. Nothing I would know," Price Jr. said.
Outside, other instructors and volunteers consoled each other as the news of the suicide and molestation allegations spread.
Meanwhile, police collected evidence inside the building.
An instructor who only wanted to be identified as Josh, defended his friend and boss.
"There was never anything questionable about his moral, about his character. He's a good man, I know he was under a lot of stress. I don't know the circumstances of this, I hadn't been in there for a few months. But it's not right."
Josh said the school offers one-on-one training but even so there are usually other instructors around.
Nochlin asked Josh if the school had background checks.
"I don't remember," he said.
Price Jr's father said that was concerning.
"You need to do a thorough background check before you're hiring," Price Sr. said.
The building has at least one security camera visible from the outside. But Nochlin reported it was unclear if it captured anything.
The studio is a franchise business and she said members from the national organization had just come up from Orange County. They told her they were trying to get to the bottom of the incident, said they do background checks and called this "a tragedy."
