There wasn’t a single mistake or failure that led to the tragedy that will forever haunt Frank Perez.
But when he learned that his son — his loving, but traumatized, mentally ill son — shot and killed his beloved 11-year-old grandson before pointing a gun at him earlier this month at an airport in Nevada, Perez couldn’t help but think about all the opportunities he missed before the horrific shooting.
“We were crying for help,” said Perez. “We tried to get him help.”
For years, and urgently in recent months, Perez said their family tried to better protect Callan, 11, and get his father, Giovanni Perez, 37, the help he needed. But all the while, Chief Perez said he feels like they’re blocking roads in complex mental health and family court systems.
“I was always afraid that something like this would happen,” said Perez. But he said he would not blame his son, who has been hospitalized several times since returning from the military, and was diagnosed with PTSD.
Instead, Perez sees a web of failed programs: narrow resources for military veterans, limited mental health treatment options, inadequate gun restrictions and inadequate protections for children living with unstable parents.
Giovanni Perez and son Callan. Authorities say the pair died on April 13 in a suicide attack at an airport in Nevada.
(Frank Perez)
“He loved Calan,” Perez said of his son. “He would have these moments of mental illness, and unfortunately, this time it won. … He would have episodes of mental illness and see things, and I believe that’s what happened that day. He didn’t do that.”
Local police investigating the April 13 shooting in Elko, Nev., have not yet determined a motive but noted that Giovanni Perez had a history of PTSD and had been “in an argument about custody” with his son’s grandparents, according to an update from the Elko Police Department. Frank Perez said he and his wife have been working with Callan’s maternal grandmother to get custody of the boy, but the court has kept him in full custody of his father.
Police responded to Elko Regional Airport following reports of a shooting, where they found Giovanni Perez dead near the ticketing area and his son critically injured in an airport cabin, the department’s news release said.
First responders took Callan to a local hospital, but he was quickly pronounced dead.
A father and son were driving a rental car through Nevada when it broke down and they were towed to the airport to find a new rental, police said. When they were at the airport, the two went into the bathroom, came out, and went back in together. That’s where Perez shot his son multiple times, police said. The veteran then left the cabin and shot himself to death near the ticket counter.
The shooting sent shock waves through communities in Utah — where father and son have lived briefly in recent months — to Northern California, where the Perez family has lived for decades, including Giovanni and Callan for most of their lives.
“This is an unimaginable tragedy and our prayers and thoughts are with the family,” the Merced City School District, where Callan was previously enrolled, shared in a statement.
Although Frank Perez’s greatest fear was evident in the shooting, he said, shortly before it happened, the family hoped that Giovanni would change.
He said that they were on the road because they had contacted the family and returned to the Merced area. Months ago, Giovanni removed them and cut off contact with them, Frank Perez said. Callan’s school and family filed a missing persons report last year.
As Giovanni’s mental state began to stabilize in recent years, Frank Perez said he and their extended family tried many ways to get his son and grandson more help.
There was an attempt by the grandparents to get custody, but a judge ruled against them late last year. He said he also tried to alert law enforcement — traffic cops, sheriff’s deputies, anyone who would listen — when his son bought the gun, but was told it was a legal purchase, so the police couldn’t intervene. The family also tried to get Giovanni regular mental health care, mostly through Veterans Affairs, but he said his son received disability benefits for his diagnosis.
“We couldn’t force him to get care, we couldn’t force him to take medication,” Perez said. He said his son was diagnosed with PTSD with bipolar tendencies, and his mental illness made him afraid to take medication.
Giovanni Perez served nearly four years in and around Iraq, his father said, and even though he was trained to cook, he was in several combat situations that took a toll on him.
“When he came back, he was changed,” said Perez. “He wasn’t the bright-eyed 19-year-old I remembered.”
Still, Perez said his son had many stable mental health conditions, while being a devoted father of three. Callan was among her sons, the only one she had sole custody of.
He had recently worked as a truck driver and enjoyed making music; his father called him “a special singer.”
Callan was a smart, happy child who looked up to his father and was close to his younger brother. He was a huge 49ers fan who dreamed of playing professional football, Frank Perez said.
In a GoFundMe page started for memorial and legal expenses on behalf of Callan’s maternal grandmother, the family described the boy as “incredibly smart, funny and kind.”
“He had the biggest heart and the sweetest soul,” said the family fundraiser. The maternal grandmother refused to speak to The Times newspaper, saying it was too far.
But GoFundMe has spoken of its plans for a “legal battle… to pursue justice for it.” [Callan’s] his name, for a program that defeated him and to give a voice to other vulnerable children.”
Frank Perez said he would like to see changes in the family court system, because he feels their serious concerns for his son are being easily brushed aside.
“If a grandmother or a parent of someone close to her is raising concerns of this level,” Perez said, “I think there has to be something else. [intervention to make sure] that child is safe.”
But she also wishes Veterans Affairs had offered more services, that the mental health system had allowed more opportunities for family intervention and that law enforcement would have listened when they warned them about her son’s gun.
“If they want these young children to fight for our country, they must be ready to help themselves when they return,” said Perez. “There is a lack of accountability.”
But for now, she tries to remember the good times the family had together. Birthday parties. Football games. External events.
Just last summer, Callan won third place among fourth-graders in Merced County’s “Father of the Year” essay contest. It is still difficult for Frank Perez to understand that his son took his grandson’s life, and his own, violently.
“They were best friends,” Perez said of Callan and his father. “He loved Calan, Calan loved him.”
