Gunman’s kin expresses grief

The lone surviving brother of the youth who shot and killed LAPD SWAT Officer Randal Simmons expressed his condolences to the officer’s family Tuesday and said his brother had been depressed.

But Wilfredo Rivera, 27, said he could not explain the events that left his father, three brothers and Simmons dead. SWAT Officer James Veenstra was wounded in the incident.

“The family is at a loss,” said Rivera, an air-conditioning installer who had married and moved from the family home in Winnetka. “We are grief-stricken.”

Late on Feb. 6, police said, Edwin Rivera called 911 from the family home to report that he had just killed three people.

Officers with the Special Weapons and Tactics unit arrived and decided to enter the house immediately, fearing someone might be in danger. Rivera, 19, shot and killed Simmons.

SWAT officers later shot and killed Rivera. Upon entering the house, they found his brothers, Edgar, 21, and Endi, 25, and their father, Gerardo, 54, dead.

Simmons was buried in a televised funeral service Friday that drew thousands. Veenstra has undergone surgery and was released from the hospital. The four Riveras were buried Saturday, with the help of the Salvadoran Consulate. Gerardo Rivera was an immigrant from El Salvador.

Wilfredo Rivera said his father had recently started a trucking business that employed his three younger sons. Edgar and Endi had purchased a home together in Palmdale.

Wilfredo Rivera said Edwin was not a gang member and had graduated from high school. But he said that his brother, who was obese, had been depressed and stopped working at the business in the last three months, spending much of his time at home.

Rivera said the family had once sought mental health assistance for Edwin Rivera, taking him to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center to meet with doctors.

Another time, a cousin took Edwin to other hospitals but to no avail, he said.

Police said records show that Edwin Rivera had mental problems dating back more than a decade, about the time his mother died. In 2004, he was convicted and sentenced to probation for brandishing an unloaded gun at people during an argument.

Wilfredo Rivera said his brother never explained his recent depression, but he doubted that it had to do with their mother’s death. Her death “was very hard for us, but we came together to move on,” he said.

He also said he had spoken with his father’s girlfriend, who was hiding in a bedroom in the home at the time of the shootings. He said she didn’t hear anything apart from the gunshots.

“She’s also in shock, and it’s hard for her to even try to remember those events,” he said.

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