The gun was kept in a safe.
But on Dec. 17, 2019, Aiden Smith, the son of two divorced Los Angeles police officers, guessed the code: his mother's birth year, according to court records.
The 15-year-old pulled out his stepfather's gun and fatally shot himself.
It was the second time Aiden, who told doctors he was suicidal and suffered from demonic hallucinations, found a gun in the La Crescenta home his mother shared with his stepfather, also a Los Angeles Police Department officer.
That November, Aiden found his mother's LAPD-issued gun under some clothes in a closet, prompting a therapist to file a neglect report with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors, which oversees DCFS, agreed to pay a $495,000 settlement to Aiden's father, Johnny Smith, and his older sister, Reily.
The Smiths, who sued both the county and city in 2022, argued that DCFS and LAPD caseworkers should have made sure Aiden couldn't have access to another gun.
“This case is about gun safety, especially when it comes to guns in the possession of law enforcement,” said Steve Vartazarian, an attorney representing the Smiths. “They have the same responsibilities as private citizens to keep firearms safe.”
Vartazarian said negotiations with the city of Los Angeles are still ongoing. Both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Department of Children and Family Services declined to comment on the details of the case.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends who are grieving the loss of this young woman,” DCFS said in a statement. “It is our sincere hope that all those affected by this tragedy will find healing as they move forward.”
In 2020, the district attorney's office declined to file charges against Aiden's mother, Amira Eppolito, for unlawful possession of a firearm and child abuse, according to office records. Investigators concluded that Eppolito took “the situation seriously” when she learned her son was suicidal and that leaving her gun unsecured was not a normal occurrence for her.
Johnny Smith is a captain with the Los Angeles Police Department who in 2021 filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that he was demoted and transferred in retaliation for raising concerns about the Mission Division's troubled gang unit.
“Her whole world was turned upside down” with Aiden’s death, she wrote in a 2021 declaration in her lawsuit over the suicide.
“I realized that the systems that had been put in place had failed my son,” she wrote.
Several agencies had been alerted that Aiden was in pain, according to court documents.
At the urging of her son's psychiatrist, Smith took Aiden to a Rosemead mental health facility a week before Thanksgiving 2019.
After reporting that he was hallucinating and had searched for (and located) a gun in his mother’s home, Aiden was hospitalized for about a week. A therapist filed a report with the county about “general neglect due to access to a weapon,” according to the Smiths’ lawsuit.
Johnny Smith said in a statement that he told a Los Angeles Police Department commander at the time that his son had found an unlocked gun and that he was “under the impression” it would be reported to higher-ups in the department.
“I remember him being very kind and saying, ‘Look, man, you just need to remind your son that you love him and that you’re there for him. Don’t worry about any of that. We’ll take care of it,’” Smith said in the statement.
On Nov. 29, a few days after Aiden was released from the hospital, someone he had been chatting with on Discord called a nearby police station and said the teen had threatened to kill himself if his girlfriend broke up with him, according to records from the district attorney’s office. Sheriff’s deputies interviewed Aiden, who told them he had been joking.
A week later, a DCFS social worker went to the home and interviewed Aiden, according to legal documents. The social worker determined that Aiden was “not in immediate danger of serious harm” and that all of the guns were locked away in a safe.
Aiden's mother assured the social worker that none of the children living in the home knew the combination to the safe, which was hidden under clothes in a closet, according to records from the district attorney's office. Aiden told the social worker that he was feeling better and had taken his medication.
Aiden committed suicide two weeks later. His phone history showed he had been trying to find out his mother's birth year based on her age and had also been researching how to pick a lock.
The Sheriff's Department, which investigated the suicide, determined the gun was purchased privately and registered to Aiden's stepfather, Eric Eppolito, according to a file from the city attorney's office.
Vartazarian disputed the finding and said the gun was issued by the LAPD.
Suicide Prevention Resources and Crisis Counseling
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please seek professional help and call 9-8-8. The first three-digit mental health crisis hotline in the United States, 988 will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the crisis text line.
