Tenants of a Marina del Rey apartment complex, where a man went on a shooting rampage from his unit, are suing the landlord and a security company for negligence, breach of contract and emotional distress over the incident they claim was preventable.
The shooting capped months of bizarre and sometimes violent behavior by the tenant that was reported to management and security as recently as four days before the April 13 attack, according to the lawsuit. No person was killed or injured in the shooting.
About 50 tenants accused Equity Residential, a real estate investment trust that owns and manages apartments nationwide, and its private security contractor, Protection America, of breaching their duty of care after they failed to terminate the tenant’s lease and coordinate with law enforcement during the night of the attack.
Representatives for Equity Residential and Protection America did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Los Angeles County prosecutors alleged that on April 13, Victoryloc Nguyen, 42, armed himself with two AR-15 rifles and a pistol before firing indiscriminately from his own balcony and the rooftop of the Pearl Apartments, sometimes shooting at the adjacent building, Marina 41, which is also owned by Equity Residential.
It took several hours before the L.A. County Sheriff’s SWAT unit made entrance into the building to arrest Nguyen.
The lawsuit alleges that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not have access to the master key lock and no staff was present to open the door for deputies, which delayed the arrest of Nguyen. Capt. Keith Harrison of the Sheriff’s Marina del Rey station told The Times in a phone interview that there were no issues accessing the building that night of the shooting.
Nguyen, who is also named in the lawsuit, has since been charged with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, one count of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, one count of first-degree residential burglary and multiple counts of assault with a machine gun or assault weapon upon a civilian and peace officer. Nguyen has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Photographs of the scene released on social media by the department that night showed two semi-automatic rifles, ammunition, a handgun and tactical gear lying on the ground.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 11 by two law firms representing about 50 tenants of both buildings, is the second to be filed against Equity and Nguyen.
A similar lawsuit was filed in July by five Pearl Apartment tenants also accusing Equity Residential and Nguyen of negligence and assault among other claims.
But the latest lawsuit provides disturbing details about what occurred on the night of the shooting, including reports that Nguyen allegedly shot through the lock of a neighbor’s door, breaking items, and fired at a bed frame and mattress before stealing money and a set of earphones.
The lawsuit also describes several incidents that residents say should have led to the termination of Nguyen’s lease and therefore would have prevented the shooting in the first place.
Tenants alleged in the lawsuit that beginning in January, Nguyen told several people about the guns he had in his apartment. They alleged that he began to act erratic and made disturbing and threatening remarks including that he wanted to be “the Pearl’s drug dealer” and that he wanted to kill tenants and “cook their bodies into tasty food.”
Residents also claim in the lawsuit that three weeks before the shooting, a person who was subletting space in Nguyen’s apartment, a violation of the lease terms, had moved out and warned that Nguyen was allegedly stalking people, brandishing weapons and mentally decompensating from an ostensibly drug-induced psychosis.
Three days before the shooting rampage, Derrell Riley, a tenant and witness, wrote to Equity management about an April 9 incident by the pool area. The note, which was included in the lawsuit, claimed that Nguyen had inappropriately touched himself in front of residents and several children.
He and two other residents confronted Nguyen.
“[Nguyen] then began acting in an erratic and violent behavior to which he then pulled out a Karambit knife and began slashing at the surrounding trees and swinging it at a young woman,” Riley wrote. “As this happened, Pearl staff and security appeared, and Victor ran off between building A’s courtyard area.”
Riley warned management that Nguyen had become a danger to himself and others as his behaviors became “more and more bizarre and escalating in sexually aggressive and violent behavior towards men, women and children,” he wrote.
In his note, Riley urged management to review security measures and possibly contact the Sheriff’s Department to conduct a welfare check on the man’s home.
“It is only a matter of time before his actions escalate further into violence against the community.”
At least one tenant reported the incident to police but no action was taken. Harrison confirmed the incident but could not speak on it because it was under review by the Sheriff’s Department.
The lawsuit claims management and security did not take further actions. Shortly after, Nguyen carried out a shooting spree.
The lawsuit also includes heartbreaking testimonies from a number of residents who say they still suffer from post-traumatic stress caused by the shooting. They said in the lawsuit that they thought the gunman was going door-to-door, killing tenants, prompting them to secure their doors with furniture and crawl into closets and bathtubs for safety. Some said they did so with their children.
Austin Piatt, who lived next door to Nguyen’s apartment, was home when he and his roommate heard the gunshots which they first mistook for fireworks.
“They could chillingly hear when Nguyen would return to his room to reload his gun and when he would shoot just outside their apartment,” the lawsuit read. “The gunshots continued as they listened to Nguyen pace back and forth in the hallways, knocking on a door and calling out: ‘Where’s everybody at?’”
Smirnova Uliana and her husband, Artur Volkov Minullin, were at home watching television when they heard what they thought were fireworks. Minullin stepped out onto the balcony to check but instead saw a person firing a gun.
“Although partially obscured by nearby trees, Minullin could clearly see the gunman aiming and shooting the AR-15’s” the lawsuit read. “In a state of frantic urgency, Uliana and Minullin turned off every light in their apartment, hoping to avoid drawing the shooter’s attention.”
The couple barricaded the door with their couch and the window with a coffee table, according to the lawsuit. Uliana, who was pregnant, hid in the bedroom closet.
“Minullin waited silently in the living room, with his legs pushing against the couch to fortify the barricade,” the lawsuit read. “He believed that if the shooter did in fact breach the apartment, the shooter would only murder him and think that [his wife] was not home and that her life and that of his unborn baby would be spared.”
Attorneys for the tenants are seeking awards for punitive damages or exemplary damages.
Court records do show that Equity Residential filed a restraining order on behalf of its property manager and five residents but did so a few days after the shooting.
Since then, Nguyen has remained in county jail without bail.
Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.
