Sylmar Resident Sought in Death of Ex-Girlfriend Turns Himself In

A Sylmar man wanted for allegedly shooting his ex-girlfriend to death in front of a dozen of her co-workers at a Van Nuys hospital surrendered Tuesday to Los Angeles police.

The man, Adam Espinoza, 23, walked into the Van Nuys police station accompanied by his father and was arrested on suspicion of murder in the Monday morning shooting of Tina Guadiana, 24, of Sylmar. Espinoza was jailed at the station without bail, police said.

Police also said Tuesday that, at the time of the shooting, they were investigating a complaint by Guadiana that she had been raped by Espinoza.

Guadiana also had sought, and received, a temporary restraining order last summer barring Espinoza from “threatening, striking or making physical contact” with her. In documents filed in San Fernando Superior Court, Guadiana contended that Espinoza threatened to kill her and had attacked her at work in July.

Police Met With Family

Detective Mel Arnold said that Espinoza’s surrender came after a meeting Monday night of police and Espinoza’s father, mother and brother. Arnold said he urged the family to tell their son, whose whereabouts were not known to authorities, to surrender.

“We had a man-to-man conversation about what happened to his son,” Arnold said. “We talked to him about bringing his son in. And he did.”

Police allege that Espinoza walked into Valley Hospital Medical Center about 8:30 a.m. Monday and shot Guadiana with a pistol after grabbing her hair and pulling her away from her desk. Guadiana, a billing clerk in the hospital’s business office, was pronounced dead soon after.

The shooting shocked workers in the business office, who were interviewed by investigators and then sent home for the day. Hospital officials scheduled psychiatric counseling sessions for witnesses to the shooting.

Arnold said that Espinoza “got himself into a highly emotional situation” after his two-year relationship with Guadiana was severed two weeks ago. The couple had lived with Espinoza’s parents in Sylmar, Arnold said.

Guadiana told police on Nov. 18 that Espinoza had taken her from her car to a hillside area in the northeast Valley and raped her, Lt. Bernard Conine said. Guadiana called police after she and Espinoza returned to Espinoza’s house, Conine said.

Police took a crime report, and presented their case to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office last Thursday, Conine said. After interviewing Guadiana on Friday, prosecutors asked police to investigate further, and detectives were doing that when they learned of the shooting, Conine said.

On Aug. 4, San Fernando Superior Court Commissioner Milton L. Most signed a temporary restraining order prohibiting Espinoza from threatening or contacting Guadiana.

In her request for a temporary restraining order filed with the court, Guadiana said Espinoza had punctured her car tires, smashed the windows of her sister’s car and made telephone threats to her at work. Guadiana also alleged that, on July 31, Espinoza “hit me at my job” because he believed that she had called his mother to talk about the harassment.

A court hearing was held on Aug. 28 to determine if the temporary restraining order should be made permanent, but the outcome of the hearing was not known Tuesday. Court officials said records of the hearing are missing and that, for an unknown reason, no court reporter was present to record the proceeding.