Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Joseph Gatto is the longtime art teacher at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts who was found shot and killed in his Silver Lake home last week. Gatto was the father of state Assemblyman Mike Gatto. The murder has struck chords in the Silver Lake neighborhood, in the community of students, alums and staff at the school, and beyond in the larger Los Angeles art community. Gatto was a longtime friend of the artist Kent Twitchell, who included him as a character in one of the murals recently unveiled at Patriotic Hall near downtown. This shows the mural that Gatto is in.
Twitchell also made the drawing above of his friend, posted to Facebook by Gatto's daughter. "One of my father's favorite images of himself," Mariann Gatto wrote. See it full size at her Facebook page.
Joseph Gatto was found shot at his desk inside his home near the northern end of the lake in Silver Lake on Wednesday night. It was the first homicide in Silver Lake this year, the LA Times says. The LAPD is looking into whether there is a connection to an aggravated assault and vehicle break-in reported Tuesday night not far from Gatto's home.
Semi-related: Some Silver Lakers are not happy with LA Times columnist Sandy Banks' weekend piece on gentrification issues in the community — or that she briefly mentioned the Gatto killing.
