A prominent scientist who helped discover water on a distant planet was fatally shot on the front porch of his home in California’s desert region.
Carl Grillmair, 67, was found with a gunshot wound outside his Llano residence, a rural area in northern Los Angeles, early Monday morning. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide detectives responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon just after 6 a.m. Emergency responders attempted to save him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities.
During the investigation, the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station arrested 29-year-old Freddy Snyder in connection with a nearby carjacking. Snyder has since been charged with murder, carjacking, and burglary, and is being held on $2 million bail. Law enforcement has not released a motive or clarified whether Grillmair and Snyder knew each other.
Grillmair dedicated over four decades to advancing astrophysics. He was a leading researcher at the California Institute of Technology, working with the university’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center in collaboration with NASA. His colleagues described his work as “ingenious,” noting that his discovery of water on a distant planet “signals conditions favorable for life.”
Caltech confirmed Grillmair’s death in a statement to KTLA. Astronomer Sergio Farjardo-Acosta, a friend and colleague, told the Los Angeles Times that Grillmair was “very famous in astronomy and a renowned scientist,” adding, “His legacy will live on forever.”