Burlingame: Police said the South San Francisco man accused of shooting two real estate brokers planned to kill himself but had a last-minute change of heart. Balbir Singh Lally, 39, is recovering at an undisclosed hospital from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest, said Burlingame police Commander Gary Missel. Police initially reported that Lally was dead.
Police found a suicide note. At Lally’s house at 601 First Lane, but would not disclose its contents.
Police have charged Lally with murder and attempted murder in connection with the 4 p.m. shooting that killed real estate broker William J. Britton, 63, and wounded his son, John Britton, 34. The shooting occurred at the Brittons’ 1811 El Camino Real office, located in the bustling Burlingame Plaza shopping center just across the street from the police station.
The casually dressed gunman walked into the office and pulled a large caliber revolver from his briefcase, Missel said. Without uttering a word, the gunman walked into a conference room behind the main lobby and shot the Brittons.
Around 8:30 p.m., police found the wounded Lally in his car south of Pescadero on the San Mateo County coast, Missel said.
Lally had apparently walked out into the ocean, shot himself, dropped the gun, then staggered back to his car, Missel said. A motorist later spotted Lally honking and driving erratically on Highway 1 with his emergency blinkers flashing.
“Apparently, he had a change of heart and decided he didn’t want to die,” Missel said. Police believe Lally was angry at the Brittons for evicting him from his home earlier in the day. County records showed Lally had bought the house a decade ago but made very few payments on it. The Brittons acquired the house in a foreclosure sale in May and had been attempting to evict Lally since then, Missel said.
Sheriff’s deputies accompanied John Britton to the house at 10 a.m. Thursday to evict Lally. After searching the house and finding no one home, the house was turned over to Britton, said one of the deputies, who asked not to be identified. No one saw a suicide note at the time, he added.
Lally’s wife and two young sons knew nothing of the eviction proceeding until they arrived home and were greeted by police, Missel said, Police, neighbors and county records indicate that Lally was a real estate investor who got in over his head when the market softened in the early 1990s.
“He was riding high for a long time,” said Sandy Beach, a former neighbor in San Carlos who appraised property for Lally, “He was always busy buying and selling and shifting money around.
Lally, a U.S. citizen who emigrated from Fiji in the early 1970s, was preparing to enter a culinary school on the Peninsula before the shootings, Missel said. He has no criminal record.
Lally’s former neighbors described him as an amiable man and a good father.
“He was just a real nice guy, always real friendly and reserved,” said former neighbor Gary Souza.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 20, 1993
