Accused of Assault : Man With Rifle Seized at Hotel in Van Nuys

A man representing himself as part owner of the dilapidated La Casita residential hotel in Van Nuys burst into the hotel lobby early Tuesday morning brandishing a semiautomatic rifle, threatening that if tenants did not move out he was going to “get you out right now with my gun,” witnesses said.

Within minutes of the 12:30 a.m. incident, police from the Van Nuys Division headquarters across the street arrested David Scott Halcrow, 39, whose business card identified him as a Burbank accountant, on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

La Casita resident John Tillman said he was standing near the lobby of the hotel in the 14300 block of Sylvan Street when Halcrow entered. Tillman said the man pointed his rifle at one resident and said, “If you’re not out, I’m going to get you out . . . Maybe you can stay here to the 8th, but I can get you out right now with my gun.”

As Halcrow continued down the hotel hallway, Tillman said, “Everybody hid in their rooms.”

Police said Halcrow surrendered the rifle without a struggle, was arrested, and later was freed on bail.

Hotel residents, who are fighting a three-day eviction order issued in mid-August, earlier this month obtained a court-ordered reprieve until a Sept. 8 hearing in Encino Municipal Court. At issue is whether the length of their stay--ranging from a few weeks to a few years--entitles them to the eviction rights of apartment tenants rather than hotel guests. Apartment dwellers are entitled to at least 30 days notice of evictions, but hotel guests can be evicted with only three days warning.

Tillman said that during the incident Tuesday morning, he was worried about the many children among the 30 or so people who live at the hotel.

“We’ve got babies here,” Tillman said. “We don’t need Rambo in here with guns.”

Police Sgt. Ted Hanson said two other witnesses confirmed Tillman’s account.

But Halcrow’s involvement in La Casita remained unclear. Title companies do not list him among the three owners--Ronald R. Bentley, John Busby and Gargi Dalela--who obtained the property in foreclosure Aug. 16. David Seror, attorney for Busby and Bentley, said he did not know Halcrow.

But Ron Hubbard, a manager collecting rents at the hotel on Friday afternoon, said he had been hired by Halcrow. La Casita residents said Halcrow had tried to collect rent on several Fridays.

A receptionist at Halcrow’s Burbank office said the certified public accountant was “out of town” and she did not know when he would return.

Michael Duran, a legal-aid attorney representing the residents, said that he knew nothing about Halcrow but that he would look into the incident before the Sept. 8 hearing.

“We’ll certainly have to raise it when we go back to court,” Duran said. “It’s the weirdest thing.”