Shooter’s family expresses grief and surprise

Edwin Rivera spent many a day hanging around his family’s Welby Way home in the San Fernando Valley watching TV, playing video games and shooting the breeze with friends who came by to shoot baskets and drink beer on the back patio.

He was the son of immigrants; he got into fistfights, had a hard time in school and later had trouble holding a job, according to those who knew him.

Thursday, friends and relatives were struggling to comprehend a bloody shooting at the Rivera home that left at least five dead, including a veteran Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer.

There was some confusion about the shooter’s identity, partly because Edwin Rivera and his brother Edgar were close in age and looked alike. Edwin Rivera was described as about 5-foot-9 and 280 pounds; his once-shaven head had given way to bushy hair.

Four law enforcement sources, who declined to be named, and several relatives said Edwin Rivera was the gunman. However, Ed Winter, assistant chief of the coroner’s office, said officials had not formally identified any of the victims. There was still considerable confusion, he said, about the birth dates of the brothers.

The carnage began Wednesday evening, when the shooter apparently opened fire on relatives before calling police and urging them to come get him. After barricading himself in the family home and firing repeatedly at officers, he was shot and killed by a police sniper, according to LAPD sources.

Friends and relatives insisted that Edwin Rivera had not appeared emotionally disturbed and wasn’t involved with gangs or drugs.

“He would space out sometimes,” said Jose Ortiz, 21, who met Rivera at Taft High School and remained friends with him after they both dropped out of school. “But he didn’t show any signs of mental problems.”

Edgar and another brother, Andy, along with the boys’ father, Gerardo, were believed to be among the victims, family members said.

The Rivera brothers’ parents emigrated from El Salvador 25 years ago. Their sons were born in the United States, according to relatives. Gerardo owned a trucking company, where both Edgar and Andy worked, family members said.

Edwin was 20 years old, according to several sources, and had moved among four high school campuses.

He had trouble with English in school, according to Ortiz. Officials said he enrolled in Reseda High School for ninth grade, then moved to Taft High for 10th grade but left before completing the year. He was supposed to return to Reseda High but never did.

He ended up at a Soledad Enrichment Action Center and then Miguel Leonis continuation school -- both of which deal with at-risk students or those who have dropped out of school.

Police sources said Edwin Rivera was not in a gang, but was known to gang investigators. “We’ve had dealings with him in the past,” said Lt. Tom Smart, who heads the LAPD’s West Valley gang unit. “He’s no angel.”

Smart said Rivera had a criminal record, but not involving major crimes. He declined to elaborate and was unable to confirm reports that Rivera may have witnessed or been a target in a drive-by shooting. Family members said there was a shooting on Welby Way about a year ago, but it involved another resident.

By some accounts, there had been friction between Gerardo Rivera’s girlfriend and his sons, especially Edwin. The brothers’ mother died several years ago, and their father’s girlfriend later moved into the family home.

The father’s girlfriend dashed to safety out the back door of the home early Thursday morning and was later treated for tear gas inhalation, relatives said.

A friend of the eldest and only surviving Rivera son, Wilfredo, said Gerardo Rivera’s girlfriend did not get along well with his sons.

“Edwin really loved his mom,” said the friend, who gathered with the Riveras’ relatives Thursday and identified himself only as Christian.

“After the mom died, Wil kind of supervised the boys,” he said. But when Wilfredo married and moved out of the family home a few years ago, the other sons “didn’t have as much supervision.”

Police officials said they were investigating the reports of household tension, but had not determined if that played a role in the shootings.

Family members stressed that Gerardo Rivera and his sons were victims and not involved in crime. “Gerardo was a good dad, hardworking,” said Alba, a cousin who was serving as family spokeswoman but declined to give her last name.

“They all got along very well, very stable,” she said. “We don’t know what happened.” She declined to discuss Edwin Rivera.

Ortiz said he ran into Rivera two days ago and nothing seemed amiss. He was planning to go to Rivera’s house for a barbecue Thursday. A group of about eight friends regularly met at the home, he said. “We would bring a six-pack over to the house. We would drink a little and just hang out.”

Rivera family members gathered at a school near the Welby Way home, trying to get information and sort through reports of what happened.

“You never know when something happens in the mind,” said Edwin Rivera’s uncle, Antonio Rivera, 28, of Panorama City. “The family is inside crying right now. Everybody is crying.”

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molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

rich.connell@latimes.com