Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D) 43rd District
A tragedy in Silver Lake is resonating through Burbank, the Southland, and all the way to Sacramento. Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s father was found shot to death in his Silver Lake home last night. Today, a team of Los Angeles Police detectives, headed by the robbery-homicide division, reportedly searching the scene and the neighborhood surrounding 78-year-old Joseph Gatto’s home for clues, according to the L.A. Times website.
Early media reports say Gatto’s sister, Marianna Gatto, became concerned after her father did not show up for their traditional Wednesday night dinner. She, along with her fiance, went to his home on Bright Lane. They discovered the retired art and design teacher slumped over his desk. The Times reports “Los Angeles police Lt. Richard Parks said the elder Gatto was shot at least once in the chest with a small-caliber handgun and was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Investigators are trying to determine a motive for the killing: whether it was a random act of violence or something else.
Assemblyman Gatto is a Democrat who represents the 43rd District, which includes Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Atwater Village, East Hollywood, Franklin Hills, Hollywood Hills, Los Feliz, and Silver Lake. Also, the two-term assemblyman is the chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee.
