Man Slain in Standoff Was Carrying Pellet Gun

COSTA MESA — An angry father who held two Orange County school board officials hostage this week was armed with a pellet gun when he was shot to death by police, the district attorney’s office confirmed Friday.

“It was a very realistic-looking pellet gun,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans.

The prosecutor would not say whether Michael P. Generakos’ pellet gun was loaded.

Generakos, 45, of Lakewood, was involved in a three-hour standoff Tuesday at the Costa Mesa headquarters of the Orange County Department of Education. The two hostages, Associate Supt. John Nelson and Deputy Supt. Lynn Hartline, were unharmed.

They and police said they suspect that Generakos wanted police to kill him. He had been involved in a long-running battle with officials over the education of his 16-year-old son, a student at University High School in Irvine who is deaf and also losing his eyesight.

Generakos had bitterly opposed putting his son in a Braille class, as favored by his ex-wife and the Board of Education. His opposition was one of the reasons his ex-wife was granted custody of their two children this fall after living with their father for many years, according to court documents.