Dad Kills 11-Year-Old Son in Airport Bathroom: Cops

An 11-year-old boy, who reportedly wrote. a school essay about how great his. father figure was, died at what authorities are saying his. own father's hand inside an airport. bathroom. And now, as family and friends. try to deal with his shocking death, investigators are taking a closer look. at what was happening in the boy's life, his father's life, all that could help. explain how this tragedy unfolded. Welcome to Sidebar, [music] presented by. Law&Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

11-year-old Callan West Perez is being. remembered by his family as smart, funny, kind, and wise beyond his years. The California boy's short life came to. a tragic end at a small regional airport. in Nevada. And it was reportedly at the. hand of his own father. According to a news release from Elko, Nevada police, they responded of an.

active shooter at Elko Regional Airport. on April 13th. And that is when they found 37-year-old. Giovanni Perez dead from a. self-inflicted gunshot wound near a. ticket counter. Traumatized witnesses directed first. responders. to a nearby restroom. And this is where they found Callan, this little boy, Giovanni's son, with multiple gunshot. wounds. They rushed him to a hospital, but he. didn't survive.

And as investigators started looking. into what happened here, they learned. more about Callan and his dad and how. they even came to be at this small. airport. So, Elko police say the father. and son were traveling in northern. Nevada, reportedly on their way to Reno, when their rental car broke down in the. small city of Winnemucca. Now, Perez had. the car towed to Elko. This is around 2. hours away in the opposite direction of. Reno, according to Google Maps, where he. had seemingly planned to rent another. car. But for some reason, when the pair.

went into the restroom, that's when things took a. horrific turn. Police claim the two entered the. bathroom, came back out, then went back. in again, and when Perez came out again, he was. alone. And I'm going to get into what. might have happened there and why that. timeline of events, but a couple days. after the shooting, police released an. updated press release that said, quote, "Through the investigation, we learned.

that Giovanni claimed he was suffering. from PTSD due to his time in the. military. We are investigating what. Giovanni did in the military. Our. detectives have also found through their. investigation that Giovanni was in a. custody dispute with the maternal. grandparents and was attempting to keep. Callan from both the maternal. grandparents and his own family. We. still do not have a motive for this. horrific incident and may never know why. Callan's life was taken.". So, Callan's mother spoke with media.

outlet KUTV, saying she had been. separated from Callan for years, but. that they stayed in contact by phone. She was reportedly working to regain. custody. A reason for the original. separation wasn't given, but according. to what Callan's mom told KUTV, Perez had served 4 years in the US Army. as a cook and was then deployed to Iraq. Now, it's believed that Callan had most. recently been living in both California. and Utah. And in fact, in a statement to. Oxygen, a police spokesperson said,

quote, "We do know that they have ties. to the Merced, California area and there. was a missing person's report filed out. of Clovis, California in December of. last year. They were located a month. later in Ogden, Utah. Ogden was the last. place we believe they were living, but. we're trying to follow up on that." Now, I want to give you some perspective. about who this little boy was, okay? In. 2025, when he was in the fourth grade, Callan won an essay contest organized by. the Merced County Office of Education.

The county's website says there were. nearly 100 submissions from elementary. and middle and high school students, and. the essays were meant to honor not only. biological fathers, but also. step-parents and grandparents and. siblings or coaches who fulfill that. role of a father figure in the student's. life. And Callan was one of the students. who placed third. However, to be clear, we're not entirely sure if Callan's. essay was about Giovanni, you know,

Perez or someone else in his life, but. Perez's father and Callan's grandfather, Frank, posted multiple tributes to the. two on his Facebook page, including one. that said, "Giovanni, I'm so sorry I couldn't get. you the help you needed. Callan, I'm. sorry the courts failed us. Loved. dearly, missed eternally.". Frank also asked for thoughts and. prayers for Callan's younger brother, who was not on the trip. There's a. GoFundMe that has been set up to raise.

money for Callan's family, and I just. want to read you what it says in part, quote, "There are no words that can. truly capture the pain, confusion, and. heartbreak we are all living through. right now. Callan was so much more than. this tragedy. He was incredibly smart, funny, kind, wise beyond his years. He. had the biggest heart and the sweetest. soul, not to mention a smile that lit up. every room he entered. He deserved so. much more life, so many more laughs, and. a future that was stolen far too soon.

We're asking for help to give Callan the. farewell he deserves and to support his. grandmother and the rest of the family. during this devastating time. Please. help us honor Callan's life and help. with a legal fight that will be. forthcoming to pursue justice in his. name against a system that failed him. and to give a voice to other children. that are not being protected.". All right, I want to bring on Tom Smith. right now, retired NYPD detective, co-host of the Gold Shield show. Hope.

everybody can check that out. It's. phenomenal. Also did an amazing podcast. with Jillian Dory, by the way. Um Tom, these cases are so unique. They're. tragic, they're awful, but they're also. unique. They're unique in how you. investigate it, right? How do you. investigate a case like this when it. seems like what will the, you know, this. is a the defendant's dead, right? How. far do you investigate it to get answers. into something like this and try to make. sense of something like this? Well, just because, you know, everyone.

is deceased, doesn't mean it's not an. investigation, it's not a case. So, you. know, on on the investigative part, it. is an active case until you just close. up everything that needs to be closed. And these situations in this is so. tragic and it's heartbreaking. And. you're basically doing more the. investigation for the family to get them. some answers of to what happened, why. this took place, and why this tragedy. occurred. And you're going to, you know, you're going to do your due diligence. and go into backgrounds and go into.

social media posts and do interviews of. family members about what was going on. in this in this father's life uh that. tragically led to this. And I'll get. into father's life. We talked a little. bit about it, but I want your. perspective. I find it very interesting. this happening at an airport, right? An. airport, a very public place like that. A unique crime scene, too, right? It is uh because now you have you have a. larger area that you need to check out. But the good thing about it, Jesse, is.

the uh opportunity to get surveillance. tapes and surveillance video of really. piecing together when they got there, how they got to that location, the. interactions with going in and out of. the bathroom once or twice, and then. tragically the event happening. Uh you. know, so in a larger area, more of an. opportunity to piece this little puzzle. together about what happened. How do you. bring a gun into an airport?

Well, that's the other thing. Certain. airports, now, the first report was at. ticket counter, so I think they didn't. get through security yet. So, that leads. me to believe, and I'm sure you're. thinking this, too, this was a thought. beforehand because he knows he's not. going to get through security with that. gun. So, was this a thought already in. his head about where this was going to. happen and to take place because of the. knowledge that you're in an airport, you're not getting a gun on a plane. So,

this was going to take place beforehand, which again, the thought of running. through your head of taking your son's. life and then your own is just a tragic. thought. And going in and out of the. bathroom, right? I mean, that was weird, too. Well, I think that had to do with making. sure no one else was in there. Uh you. know, and like kind of looking in and. seeing other people in there, he didn't. want to do it in front of anyone and. waiting till no one was in there to to. do what he did, which again, is just a.

premeditation and a thought process that. is very sad. There are two other aspects. to the background I want to focus on. First, this claim that Giovanni was. suffering from PTSD. due to his time in the military. How do you investigate that? Um how do. you properly assess that? And if that is. true, what does that maybe tell you. about this crime? Yeah, you can. definitely look into it, and that's. going to be a series of interviews.

That's going to be interviewing everyone. he's close with, family members, friends, former military friends and. comrades that that he worked with, even. getting background checks and interviews. from the military. Did he go for any. counseling in the military? What was his. job in the military to maybe, you know, bring this on. So, there's going to be a. series of interviews that are done and. evidence collection with anything the. family can provide to look into his. background.

Is it difficult to get that evidence? I. mean, if you're dealing with let's say. it was a I I don't know if this is for. sure, but if you're dealing with. therapist notes, isn't that privileged. information? If you're dealing with. military records, is there. are those. you know, is there are they classified. in a way? Well, the military records might will be. a little easier than getting, you know, if he was in the care of a psychologist. or or someone like that or a mental. health facility, that is going to be. difficult to get, but getting the the. statements and interviews from family.

members that he was in fact going for. counseling or he just refused to go for. counseling. So, those two things are. going to be questions that are going to. be answered. And, you know, you can. conduct interviews in the military and. they are very well aware of what they. will and will not provide, you know, in. this case. If there wasn't anything of a. classified nature, they will assist in. this investigation. I have to be clear, you know, authorities said and I mentioned this. before, they may never really know what. the motive is here. They may never. figure that out. But, piecing together.

parts of his background is going to help. in some way. This other idea of the custody dispute, where does your mind go there? Where. does the investigation go there looking. into that? Yep. And and the sad part of this, Jesse, we've dealt with so many cases. like this in the past. Me and you have. done cases like this where eliminate the. whole PTS thing and just the go back and. forth in domestic issues when it comes. to custody of children. Unfortunately,

the end game in this we've seen before. where the mindset is, well, if I can't. have my children, no one's going to. And. that is so. difficult to deal with on that level, but that may be well what we're looking. at here. By the way, at the end of this. investigation, do they prepare a formal. report that they present. uh to the public, to the family? How. does it work if you're not dealing with. an arrest and an indictment? How does it.

work in terms of uh trying to get a. conclusion here or trying to assess what. happened? Do they prepare some sort of. report? They can, sure. And they could do one of. two things. They can present it to the. family and let the family know their. findings and maybe even ask the family, do you want us to put this out there? Do. you want this made public and have the. family kind of be involved in it a. little bit? So, you know, those that can. certainly be done on a law enforcement. level when it comes to a final statement. when and if, like you just said, they. come to a solid conclusion in this.

Which again, like you said, they may. never do. Did you see that part about. the missing person's report? I'll repeat. it again. Um in a statement to Oxygen, a police. spokesperson had said, "We do know that they have ties to. Merced, California area and that there. was a missing person's report filed out. of Clovis, California in December of. last year. They were located a month. later in Ogden, Utah. Ogden was the last. place we believe they were living, but. we're trying to follow up on that.".

Yeah, again, that could just be this is. an ongoing thing that's been going on. for a long time and not just one. specific incident. And that's where. interviews are going to be important of. how long this took place. And. investigators will put together some. sort of timeline of when all this. started and where proceeded and how. proceeded to the end of this, which. again took place in that airport. You know, there's a mention in the. GoFundMe of a legal fight that will be. forthcoming to pursue justice in his.

name. Do you know what that might be? It may be the knowledge of someone else. knowing what he was thinking. Uh that's the only thing I can conclude. in this. Did he tell someone what he was. thinking? Did he tell someone what he. may do on this trip? And that person not. notifying the authorities or anybody. else when it comes to this. That's the. only conclusion I can come up with when. it comes to that, but that has happened. in the past, Jesse, you know, in cases. that we've discussed when it comes to.

something like this. You know, the. knowledge of other people knowing the. intent of someone. and not telling anyone can come back to. haunt them. And I know that the in these kinds of. cases you may want to go um I mean, I I. I go back to Callan's grandfather. statement, "I'm sorry the courts failed. us." There may be an incentive to try to. go after the court system, to try to go. after. um any kind of state agencies. That may. be difficult in cases like this, right? From your experience? Yeah, it will be,

but it's a fight I think worth doing, you know, for the for this young boy's, you know, memory and the family's. resolution in this. You know, go after. them. Anyone they think had a had a play. in this and maybe dropped the ball or. fell through the cracks when it came to. the custody of this young man and see. where they could do with it. Tom, from a personal perspective, how does a. family even move on from something like. this? How how do they even process. something like this? How do they get a.

sense of closure? I mean, yes, maybe. getting answers as to what happened here. will help a bit, but they'll never. really recover from this. How how how. how do they how. how do they process something like this? These are the crimes that, you know, uh. uh. are separated from anything else. Yeah, they're very difficult, Jesse, to. put yourself in their mindset and what. they're dealing with in the situation. that's in front of them. I can't even. imagine. But, you hope they have a. strong family bond that they can lean on.

each other and be there for one another. and talk to professionals about it with. moving on. But, I think again, a lot of. this might be the closure of this and. finding out the whys. But, they're going. to be on top of this and I think just. the closeness of this family, I don't. know what their faith is, but maybe. leaning on that as well. And also, by the way, law enforcement. that responds. to this crime scene, that sees. this deceased child,

I have to imagine that is incredibly. difficult for those officers. And do. they typically need some sort of. counseling afterwards? Well, that's that's each officer will go. through what they think they need, but. those situations and those crime scenes. are horrible to deal with. They're. horrible to respond with. But, it also. again, Jesse, we've mentioned this. This. is what police officers do every day. They have to respond to these and take. care of the crime scenes and process. them the right way. And you for a moment.

have to remove yourself from what you're. looking at and not put yourself in. anyone else's shoes or situation just. simply do your job. And does that become. kind of cold-hearted at times? Maybe, [snorts] but it's necessary to get past. situations like this when you're a. police officer. Just an incredibly. difficult, disturbing case to talk. about. Tom Smith, um thanks for taking the. time. As always, we really appreciate. it. >> Absolutely. Thanks for always having me,

Jesse. And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can also check us. out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you. want to follow me, X, Instagram, [music]. my NewsNation show, Jesse Weber live, Monday through Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.