Renowned scientist who discovered water on distant planet shot dead

A renowned scientist who contributed to the discovery of water on a distant planet was mysteriously sh0t and k!lled on the front porch of his desert California home.

Carl Grillmair, 67, was identified as the victim of a fatal sho0ting in Llano, a rural area of northern Los Angeles, on Monday morning.

The astrophysicist was found with a gunsh0t wound on his front porch after detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon just after 6am.

Emergency responders attempted life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

While investigating the sho0ting call, the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station responded to a carjacking in the same area and arrested a man named Freddy Snyder, 29, who was named as a person of interest in Grillmair’s homicide case.

Snyder was arrested for murd£r, carjacking, and burglary on Wednesday. He is in custody with a $2 million bail.

Law enforcement has not released a motive in the alleged homicide. It’s unclear if the two men knew one another or whether the shooting was targeted.

The LACSD hasn’t released Snyder’s booking photo or any further information on the case.

Grillmair dedicated over 40 years to advancing science. He was an accomplished astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked with the university’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, which partners with NASA.

Colleagues called Grillmair’s research ‘ingenious’ and said that discovering water ‘is a telltale sign the conditions of the planet are auspicious for life.’

Caltech confirmed that Grillmair was the victim of the sho0ting in a statement to Los Angeles news station KTLA. 

Grillmair’s friend and colleague at Caltech, astronomer Sergio Farjardo-Acosta, told the Los Angeles Times that he was ‘very famous in astronomy and a very renowned scientist.’

‘His legacy will live on forever,’ Farjardo-Acosta added.