The 78-year-old father of Assemblyman Mike Gatto was found with a gunshot wound to the stomach
The 78-year-old father of a state assemblyman from Southern California was found fatally shot in his ransacked Silver Lake home Wednesday night, police said.
The body of Joseph Gatto was found slumped over in a chair with a gunshot wound to the stomach, according to a watch commander at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeastern Division.
Gatto is the father of state Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles. A Gatto staffmember confirmed in an e-mail to NBC4 that Joseph Gatto was shot and killed.
Gatto was in Sacramento when he received a phone call regarding his father’s death.Patrol officers responded to the home at about 9 p.m. Wednesday after a family member discovered the body inside the home on Bright Lane in Silver Lake.
Details regarding how long the victim had been deceased awere not immediately available, Villanueva said.
“Detectives are processing the crime scene in the house and they’re going to be cavassing the neighborhood for witnesses to see if anybody saw or heard anything,” said LAPD Detective Gus Villanueva.
Investigators at the scene did not confirm early Thursday that the case involved a home invasion.
Gatto was elected to the 43rd District seat in a special election in June 2010. The life-long Los Angeles resident represents Atwater Village, Burbank, Glendale, Hollywood, La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Los Feliz, Montrose, and Silver Lake in the state legislature.
Gatto’s family moved to LA’s Silver Lake area when he was 5.
Joseph Gatto was the first member of the family to graduate from college, according to Gatto’s biography. He worked as a school teacher for more than 40 years and sometimes worked night shifts at Dodger Stadium, according to the bio.
After he retired, Joseph Gatto worked as a jewelry craftsman.
The Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division, which often handles high-profile cases, is conducting the investigation.
