Police shot and killed Manuel Benitez on Tuesday after he held his 7-year-old son hostage. Benitez, a former child actor known as Mark Everett, was wanted for a 2004 murder in Hawthorne.
A gunman who took a 7-year-old boy hostage and was killed by police after a two-hour standoff at an El Monte Chinese restaurant was identified today as the boy's father, a former child actor who was a fugitive wanted for a 2004 slaying in Hawthorne, police said.
Manuel Benitez, who police said barricaded himself inside the restaurant with the child, was declared dead at the eatery soon after gunshots were fired, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Liam Gallagher.
The boy also was injured in the shootout and was hospitalized in critical condition, although he does not have a life-threatening injury, police said.
Benitez, who is from Hawthorne, was wanted by police in connection with the June 2004 murder of his girlfriend, Stephanie Spears. According to police, Benitez used a dumbbell to beat Spears to death and fled with their then 3-year-old son.
Although the Sheriff's Department reported that Benitez was 38 years old, court documents and an FBI website on the kidnapping said he was born in September 1969, making him 39 at the time of his death. The FBI website also said his son was born in November 2001, making him 7 years old; earlier reports said the boy was 6.
According to the FBI, Benitez was a former child actor who used aliases, such as Mark Everett, Manuel Velasco and Mike Evers, to elude authorities. He also may have spoken several languages, including German, French, English, Spanish and Cantonese.
As a child actor, Benitez was best known for working under the stage name Mark Everett. He starred in commercials, TV shows and movies, including "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," "Stand and Deliver" and "Trapper John, M.D." according to the Internet Movie Database.
After years away from the camera, he reappeared in 2005 as a real-life fugitive featured on "America's Most Wanted." A state warrant was issued for his arrest that year. A federal warrant was issued in 2006, when he was charged with "unlawful flight to avoid prosecution." A $20,000 reward was offered for information leading to his capture.
The Tuesday afternoon incident began in the parking lot at Santa Fe Plaza, a strip mall at 3580 Santa Anita Ave. in the heart of El Monte, according to witnesses. It ended about 5:30 p.m., when a flash-bang grenade exploded and gunshots echoed inside the building.
Shortly afterward, authorities carried the boy out on a stretcher and put him in an ambulance.
Henry Villan, 35, was standing in the parking lot talking to a friend when he saw a man roughly dragging a young boy by his T-shirt.
"I just seen a guy taking a kid," Villan said.
At first, Villan thought nothing of it because he assumed that the man was the boy's father.
"Sometimes you see bad parents," Villan said.
An El Monte police officer, who had been called to the scene at about 2:30 p.m. to investigate reports of a transient man and a young boy, approached the pair and told the man to let go of the boy, said El Monte Police Det. Ralph Batres.
The man resisted and fled, pulling the boy with him. With the boy in a headlock and a gun held to the child's head, the man tried to enter the El Sombrero Restaurant, according to a restaurant employee.
"He tried to come in the front door, and one of our waitresses came in screaming," the employee said. An employee barricaded the door to stop the man from entering. After six or seven tries, the man tried another door.
When he couldn't get in, he gave up and ran across the parking lot to Tai Pan Chinese Food, where he barricaded himself and the child in a bathroom. He then "threatened to kill himself, the juvenile, and any responding officers," according to a news release from the Sheriff's Department.
Dozens of officers arrived at the scene, including several SWAT officers and a special crisis negotiating team that set up outside the bathroom and tried for two hours to convince Benitez to surrender.
During the negotiations, the man told police that he was getting tired and that he was going to harm the child, Gallagher said.
When the bathroom door opened, police fired a flash bang into the bathroom and then shot Benitez. The boy was injured by a gunshot to his leg.
Police later discovered Benitez had two handguns -- a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver. Authorities are still searching for Benitez's mother, Elizabeth Velasco, who was originally wanted for questioning in connection with the young boy's disappearance.
credited to latimes.com
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