The grandfather of a boy killed by his own father has revealed the tragic events that led up to the shooting, and claimed authorities missed vital chances to intervene.
Giovanni Perez, 37, killed 11-year-old Callan and then himself at Elko Regional Airport in Nevada on April 13, according to police.
Frank Perez, Callan’s grandfather, told the Daily Mail on Wednesday night that his son was a loving dad with ‘a big heart’, but that he believed he suffered some kind of psychotic episode.
Frank revealed that Callan had previously pleaded with cops to stay with his grandparents, rather than his father. He said the wider family had desperately fought to gain custody of the child in the months before his death, but that they had not been successful.
Giovanni and Callan had been traveling together when their rental car suddenly broke down outside Winnemucca. They were towed to nearby Elko to pick up a new vehicle.
In a possible clue that something was not right, Frank said Giovanni had called his brother for the first time in about two years immediately before the shooting.
The pair entered the regional airport’s restroom twice, and during the second time, the Elko Police Department said Giovanni fatally shot Callan before proceeding to take his own life near a ticket counter.
‘I think he saw something that wasn’t really there and maybe when he realized what he did, he couldn’t handle it [and] took his own life,’ Perez told the Daily Mail. ‘That’s what I assume.’
The Elko Police Department said that Giovanni Perez, 37, killed his 11-year-old son Callan and then himself at Elko Regional Airport in Nevada earlier this month
Giovanni fatally shot Callan in the airport restroom before taking his own life near a ticket counter, cops said
Frank Perez, Callan’s grandfather, told the Daily Mail that his son may have had some kind of psychotic episode
Callan had finished in third place in a ‘father of the year’ essay contest organized by California’s Merced County Office of Education last June.
Perez said Giovanni, an Iraq war veteran who had PTSD and bi-polar, appeared to suffer from regular episodes of psychosis or schizophrenia, though he believed he was undiagnosed.
He tried to get his son counseling and help but was unable to force him into treatment, even after two hospitalizations.
‘He was really scared of the medicines,’ Perez said. ‘He didn’t want to go to treatment, to therapy, and so he would have these manic episodes where he wasn’t in control of himself.’
Giovanni would ‘hear things’ and ‘say he talked to God,’ according to Perez, even as he had Callan in his custody.
Perez recalled one episode during which Giovanni had asked him to take him to the hospital.
‘Just as I was giving him my keys, he went into psychosis and he thought I was a demon or something,’ Perez told the Daily Mail.
Perez added: ‘I imagine if [Giovanni] had a gun, he would have shot me then, but he was scared and he ran.’
The grieving grandfather said Giovanni would sometimes get ‘a little treatment’ and ‘be okay’ afterwards but suddenly ‘started getting really distant’ around last April.
‘We asked him what’s wrong, and it was his illness,’ Perez said. ‘You could see it.’
Callan came third in a ‘father of the year’ essay contest organized by the Merced County Office of Education in California last June
Callan was traveling with his father when their rental car suddenly broke down outside Winnemucca and they were towed to Elko to pick up a new ride
Perez told the Daily Mail that Giovanni had been arrested at least twice before in other airports around the US.
That included an assault charge at an airport in Hawaii. Perez said he did not ‘really know what happened there’ since he had not viewed the relevant paperwork.
Giovanni was released on his own recognizance but got into more trouble on the way home as he traveled through Seattle.
‘He got into another altercation and he got arrested in an airport there,’ Perez told the Daily Mail.
After Giovanni was taken into custody, Callan was flown to Fresno, where he was picked up by his maternal grandmother, Jil Chiesa.
‘[They called Callan’s mom] first, but the mom said that she couldn’t take him and that she didn’t have, I guess, the means for it,’ Perez said. ‘She told the police to call the grandmother.’
Perez told the Daily Mail that Callan’s mother did not see him regularly because she was dealing with challenges in her own life and that Giovanni had obtained full custody of his son ‘early on.’
‘She missed a lot of scheduled visits,’ Perez said. ‘It was a sad situation all the way around.
The mother, who has not been named, told KUTV that she had been separated from Callan for multiple years but stayed in touch with him over the phone.
Elko police told the Daily Mail that they believed the father and son’s last place of residence was in Ogden, Utah
The shooting happened at the Elko Regional Airport at around noon on April 13, cops said
Perez told the Daily Mail that Callan had expressed a desire to stay with both sets of his grandparents over Giovanni, but that the boy’s wishes were rebuffed by law enforcement.
‘The sheriff asked Callan if he wanted to go with [Giovanni], and Callan said no, he wanted to stay with us and Jil [Chiesa],’ Perez said. ‘And then the cop told him, “Well, sorry, buddy, you have to go with your dad.”‘
‘We thought that was so wrong of him to do,’ Perez added. ‘Especially if this guy is abusive, why would you do that? You know, in case he has an episode and gets angry about that.’
At that point, Perez said that he and Chiesa thought it was best to attempt to gain custody of Callan, though they were concerned about how Giovanni would receive that.
The Elko Police Department has said that Giovanni was in a custody battle with Callan’s maternal grandparents and ‘attempting to keep Callan from both the maternal grandparents and his own family.’
Perez told the Daily Mail that the custody battle had taken place in the Mariposa County court system.
When it looked like the judge was going to side with the grandparents, Perez said, Giovanni was able to convince the court that he was fit to keep custody of Callan.
He moved to Clovis, California, outfitted a new apartment with beds and furniture, enrolled Callan into school, signed him up for the football team and placed him in a violin program.
‘When he went back to court, the judge thought he had done really well,’ Perez told the Daily Mail. ‘We said that wasn’t the point. We said: “We’re not worried that he can’t provide material things. We’re worried about when he’s alone with his children and his mental acuity. If it fails him, he can hurt them or not be available”.’
Giovanni appeared to experience regular bouts of psychosis, according to his father
Clovis police confirmed to the Daily Mail that Giovanni and Callan Perez were reported missing on December 1 but found to be in ‘good health.’ Their case was closed in mid-February
Giovanni could afford this because he was receiving more than $4,000 per month from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Perez said.
Last Thursday, an update from the Elko police said Giovanni claimed he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder ‘due to his time in the military.’
‘We are investigating what Giovanni did in the military,’ police added.
Perez told the Daily Mail that Giovanni had trained as a cook and been deployed to Iraq under President Barack Obama, but that his son ‘didn’t like to talk about that.’
‘When he came back here, he was diagnosed with PTSD and a bipolar syndrome,’ he said.
Perez said he never saw Callan again after the judge made the decision to keep him with his father.
He filed a missing person’s report about six months later when he learned that Giovanni and Callan were no longer in Clovis.
The Clovis Police Department told the Daily Mail on Thursday morning that Giovanni and Callan Perez had been reported missing last December 1.
‘Our investigations division completed follow-up on several occasions, and on February 19, 2026, we made contact with Giovanni’s family,’ Clovis police said. ‘We confirmed that Giovanni and Callan had been contacted by law enforcement in Utah the day prior, on February 18, 2026, and Giovanni had stayed in contact with family since he had been reported missing in December.
‘Due to the fact that both Giovanni and Callan were reported to be in ‘good health’ by their family and law enforcement, we closed out our missing person case.’
Perez said that Callan’s maternal grandmother, Jil Chiesa (pictured), agreed that it would be best if Giovanni no longer had custody of the youngster
An undated photo published by Frank Perez showed Giovanni wearing uniform
The Elko police said they were still looking into Perez’s military background, while his father claimed he had been deployed to Iraq
The Elko Police Department previously confirmed to the Daily Mail that Ogden, Utah, ‘was the last place we believe they were living, but we are trying to follow up on that.’
Perez told the Daily Mail that he had told a law enforcement officer in Utah that Giovanni had mental issues, was a danger to himself, had a mental illness and had a gun in the car.
But he claimed that did not matter to the policeman, who took ‘like, two minutes’ to check on the pair’s condition.
‘He goes, well, they look good and they look fit and healthy, so I let them go,’ Perez told the Daily Mail.
‘That was another place that I didn’t get help,’ he added.
Perez insisted that Giovanni ‘would never hurt Callan’ if he had been ‘in his right mind.’
‘He always protected him and that was the reason that we wanted to get him help, because we were afraid that what would happen would be out of his hands,’ Perez said.
A GoFundMe started to raise money for Callan’s funeral and family had raised about $13,700 of a $16,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.
Call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline on 988 for emergency mental health support. Dedicated assistance for veterans is available
