An Iraq War veteran said to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder was ordered Monday to stand trial on charges he fatally shot a 73-year-old man in Reseda and wounded his 61-year-old wife.
Ricardo Javier Tapia, 33, of Reseda, is charged with one count each of murder and attempted murder. The criminal complaint includes gun-use and great bodily injury allegations.
Prosecutors added a third count of “gassing,” alleging he threw bodily fluids at a sheriff’s deputy while jailed.
Tapia is accused of fatally shooting Giam Kim Hoang and injuring Hoang’s wife, Hoan Thi Nguyen, on Dec. 20. The couple lived in the same apartment building as Tapia in the 7500 block of Canby Avenue.
Police said Tapia was acting irrationally and bleeding from his arms and hands when officers responding to a shooting-in-progress call found him in the apartment complex.
Tapia, a former U.S. Marine, had been deployed to Iraq three times in three years for active combat duty, according to his attorney, William Paparian.
Paparian said his client, honorably discharged in November 2010, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury and thought he was in combat when he shot the couple.
Court proceedings were suspended in February so that Tapia could be evaluated by a forensic psychologist.
“The tragedy could have been avoided if the V.A. had done its job,” Paparian argued when the case was sent to mental health court. The attorney said the defendant had been prescribed nearly two dozen medications to treat the symptoms of PTSD and TBI and had been on a short psychiatric hold at a VA hospital just three weeks before the fatal shooting.
Tapia was found competent to stand trial.
Based on Monday’s finding that there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial, Tapia is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on Sept. 23. He remains jailed on $4 million bail.
— City News Service