Detectives investigate gunshot death

Officials called to Newhall for discovery of man found deceased with apparent self-inflicted wound

Homicide detectives were called to Newhall Thursday morning to investigate the discovery of a man found dead of what they believed was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, emergency response officials said.

The deceased man was identified late Thursday afternoon as Theodore Chavalas, 55, of Sylmar, Kelly Yagerlene, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

The official cause and manner of death has yet been established by the coroner, she said, noting an autopsy is pending.

Investigators, however, are treating the death as a suicide.

Detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Homicide Bureau were called to the incident on Remsen Street near Sierra Highway early Thursday morning.

“The investigation is being handled by homicide detectives,” Lt. Doug Mohrhoff of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told The Signal.

Paramedics were dispatched at 4:51 a.m. to the 22000 block of Remsen Street, between Los Piñetos Road and Sierra Highway, for reports of a gunshot wound, Inspector Richard Licon of the Los Angeles County Fire Department told The Signal.

“This call was for a GSW, a gunshot wound,” he said.

They arrived at the scene just before 5 a.m., he said, and found sheriff’s deputies at the scene.

Deputies and investigators focused their attention around a Chevy Volt car where it’s believed the man’s body was found.

Remsen Street runs about parallel to Highway 14 on the north side of the highway.

“We cleared at 5:01 a.m.,” Licon said, noting that no patient was transported and there were obvious signs at the scene that no medical treatment was required.

Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner were called to Newhall for the deceased man at 6:05 a.m., a coroner spokesman said.

Although the cause of death has yet to be officially determined by the coroner, the incident marks the second time in less than two months that homicide detectives were called for a man who reportedly shot himself inside a car in Newhall.

This week, a coroner’s investigation has revealed that the fatal shooting two weeks ago inside a car on Placerita Canyon Road was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The man found dead inside the car on July 3 was identified Saturday as 44-year-old Edwin Medrano Alvarado, of Burbank, Kristy McCracken, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner told The Signal Saturday.

Alvarado died of a gunshot wound, she said, noting the death has been ruled a suicide.