A man has been arrested in the early morning shooting death of a California Institute of Technology scientist who was killed on the front porch of his Los Angeles County home, according to law enforcement.
Someone called 911 about the shooting at a home in Llano on Monday, February 16, where deputies discovered a 67-year-old man shot and lying on his front porch, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in an initial news release.
Despite attempts to save him, he was declared dead at the scene, authorities said.
The man was identified as Carl Grillmair, who was an employee at Caltech, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner and a Caltech spokesperson confirmed to Luxury Handbag Shopping on Friday, February 20.
As Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies investigated the shooting, they also “responded to a carjacking call in that same area,” the sheriff’s department said in the release.
A man involved in the carjacking quickly became a suspect in Grillmair’s killing, according to authorities.
The man, identified as Freddy Snyder, has been charged with murder in Grillmair’s death, the sheriff’s department said.
Snyder, 29, was initially arrested on a carjacking charge and also faces a burglary charge, according to the sheriff’s department. His bail was set at $2 million.
It was unclear whether he had retained legal counsel or entered a plea as of February 20.
A potential motive for the deadly shooting is also unclear.
Grillmair worked as an associate scientist at Caltech, according to his university bio, which lists his research interests as dark matter, galactic structure, stellar populations and exoplanets.
As an astrophysicist, he was known for studying distant planets and contributed decades worth of research involving the galaxy, the Los Angeles Times reported.
He was a staff member at Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, a university spokesperson told the newspaper. The center works with NASA and the U.S. National Science Foundation.
“He was very famous in astronomy and a very renowned scientist,” Grillmair’s former colleague, astronomer Sergio Fajardo-Acosta, told the Los Angeles Times. “His legacy will live on forever.”
Grillmair was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2011, along with other honors, according to his curriculum vitae.
A few years earlier, he published a 2007 research paper in which he reported on the discovery of water on a planet located in another solar system, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Fajardo-Acosta said his research was a “very ingenious discovery” which was “extremely important because water is a telltale sign the conditions of the planet are auspicious for life.”
Grillmair’s colleagues told KTLA that he had his own observatory at his Llano residence, that he frequently spent time outdoors and was also a pilot.
“He was a great friend and will be missed dearly,” Fajardo-Acosta told the TV station.
Fajardo-Acosta also said Grillmair “takes knowledge with him that will be irreplaceable.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department asks anyone with information on the shooting to call the agency’s homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500. Anonymous tips can also be called in to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
