LOS ANGELES — Rob Reiner’s son Nick was notorious for being violent, and those around him “instantly knew’’ he was the one who allegedly murdered his parents, friends and neighbors told The Post on Monday.
“This is not the first time their son has been violent,’’ a longtime neighbor of the victims said of Nick Reiner, 32, who is charged with fatally slitting the throats of his parents in the family’s Los Angeles mansion.
“I know of another incident a few years back with Nick, but I won’t say more than that,’’ added the man, who declined to give his name. “I just never thought it would ever get to this point.
“Rob was always heartbroken that his son couldn’t beat his addiction,’’ the resident said of the famed actor-director and the long-drug-addled suspect.
“I know they wanted him to get help, go to rehab, but he wanted to get help while at home — he did not want to get treatment at a facility,’’ the neighbor said.
“And I know they have argued about that for years. Nick has had demons for the longest.
“It is such a nightmare,’’ the source said. “The whole thing is a tragedy.’’
A former classmate of Nick’s told The Post that the suspect — who had been in and out of rehab since age 15 — has “always been troubled’’ and that she “instantly knew it was him’’ when she heard the news.
A second neighbor of the parents added, “I wasn’t surprised’’ to learn Nick was charged with killing his famed Hollywood actor, 78, and director dad and wife Michele, 68. The resident declined to elaborate.
A security guard hired by the community to patrol the family’s ritzy Brentwood hood because of looting after the Palisades Fire in January told The Post that Nick had been living with his parents for at least the past year.
“You could tell something was a little off with him,’’ the worker, Trevor Taufahema, said of the suspected killer son.
“He’s a strange individual, you know?
“You can tell he had, like, some problems with drug addiction,’’ Taufahema said.
“I think he was homeless a few times, but I know he lived in this house,’’ the man added.
The guard said Nick specifically had one friend he would invite to his parents’ multimillion-dollar home.
“I would meet him right here,’’ Taufahema said near the residence.
“I’m not sure who he was, but I’d always see [Nick] sneak off with him. I don’t know what they were doing.”
Still, the guard said, “I never saw any violence with [Nick].
“If Nick is the suspect, I would never have thought that he would have done this to his parents.
“Great people, great people,’’ the worker said of Rob and his wife.
“I would see them on a daily basis every day.”
“Every time they see me in my car outside, they always ask if I was OK, if I needed anything, food.”
“On a rainy day, the wife gave me an umbrella because I didn’t have my umbrella. … And I still have it to this day.’’
He said that when he heard the news of the murders, “I was just in shock.”
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I know these people.’ They’re the sweetest people in the world.’’
The first neighbor also called Rob and Michele Reiner “the kindest, most loving and generous people you will ever meet.”
“It is very very devastating their lives ended this way. Rob was a dear friend. And Michele, I cannot imagine,’’ the man said. “And their other kids, horrible, they have to endure this.”
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