National Affairs: Death Of A Young Man

Eugene Acevedo Granillo was only 20 years old, had no business hanging around a bar, and didn’t know how to handle his liquor. For these missteps he paid last week with his life. Entering the 101 Café in Downey, a suburb of Los Angeles, he flashed a driver’s license to prove he was 24. He ordered up a couple of beers while the jukebox was grinding out Jealous Heart, danced about, began fooling around the shuffleboard game. Then Granillo tossed a couple of heavy shuffleboard weights across the crowded room. Bartender Edgar Gray (at right behind bar) told him to clear out. Trying to scare Granillo, Gray pretended to call the cops. “He started coming toward me,” said Gray. “He started calling me a lotta names. I got rattled.” From behind the bar he grabbed a pistol, shot and killed Eugene Granillo. Police held Bartender Gray on a homicide charge.