NEED TO KNOW
Carl Grillmair was found dead on the porch of his Los Angeles home on Monday, Feb. 16
The Caltech research scientist, 67, was famed for his research on distant planets
Freddy Snyder, 29, has been charged in connection with Grillmair’s slaying, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department
A highly acclaimed Caltech scientist was fatally shot on the porch of his home in Los Angeles.
At around 6:10 a.m. local time on Monday, Feb. 16, deputies found a 67-year-old man lying on a porch with a gunshot wound, said the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) in a news release. A suspect was arrested in connection with the incident.
The fatally shot man was later identified by the L.A. County medical examiner as Carl Grillmair, a Caltech astrophysicist who made several contributions to the study of distant planets, per the Los Angeles Times, KTLA and FoxLA.
Deputies had responded to Grillmair’s home in the unincorporated community of Llano after receiving reports of an assault with a deadly weapon, according to the LASD. L.A. County Fire Department paramedics attempted life-saving measures, but he was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.
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While investigating the shooting, deputies also responded to a carjacking call in the same area. The suspect in the incident, 29-year-old Freddy Snyder, was arrested.
On Wednesday, Feb. 18, Snyder was formally charged with both the carjacking and Grillmair’s killing.
The suspect was also charged with first-degree burglary related to a Dec. 28 incident, according to court records obtained by the L.A. Times. Snyder is being held on $2 million bail, LASD said.
The LASD said the incident is still under investigation. Authorities did not clarify whether there was a connection between Snyder and Grillmair.
A spokesperson for Caltech University confirmed to the L.A. Times that Grillmair worked as a research scientist at the university’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center — which partners with NASA and other organizations to further space exploration and research.
One of Grillmair’s Caltech co-workers, Sergio Fajardo-Acosta, told the outlet that one of Grillmair’s greatest achievements was authoring a paper published in 2007 about the presence of water on a distant planet outside of our solar system.
Fajardo-Acosta described this as a “very ingenious discovery,” per the L.A. Times.
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Fajardo-Acosta added that Grillmair’s work focused on uncovering the structure of the Milky Way, and he discovered and named several galactic streams found in the solar system, noting, “the discovery of those galactic streams is attributed to him.”
“He was very famous in astronomy and a very renowned scientist,” Fajardo-Acosta told the L.A. Times. “His legacy will live on forever.”
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