Man Kills Wife, Adult Children in Murder-Suicide: Police

A man in his 80s killed his wife and two adult children before taking his own life in Los Angeles, authorities have said.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting in the Granada Hills neighborhood in the north of the city at around 7 p.m. on Saturday night and found four people who were pronounced dead at the scene, the Los Angeles Police Department said in posts on X, formerly Twitter.

There was no answer at the door when officers arrived, police said.

Officers forced entry into the home and were met by a person who directed them to the bodies.

The deceased included a woman, who was around 80, a woman in her late 40s and a man in his late 40s. All died of gunshot wounds, police said.

Officers found a man in his late 80s in another part of the house. The man is believed to have shot his wife and adult children before dying from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

LAPD Captain Kelly Muniz said the "only positive point" is that one person survived the shooting. It was not immediately clear what relationship that person had with the deceased.

"The witness was inside and fortunately was not harmed during the incident and was able to barricade themselves and call police," Muniz told reporters during a press briefing.

"I don't know how much more terrifying and horrific of a scene it could be when you have four persons that are deceased," Muniz said. "The only positive point is that you at least have one witness that has survived this incident."

Newsweek has contacted the Los Angeles Police Department for further comment via email.

Newsweek reported last year that murder-suicides, driven by societal factors, such as a rise in domestic violence and the availability of firearms, are occurring more frequently in the U.S.

Some 1,200 Americans die in such incidents each year, according to research by the nonprofit Violence Policy Center. And although there is no agency comprehensively tracking the toll of murder-suicides in the U.S., the data there indicates that they are on the rise.

According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, there have been 53 murder-suicide incidents using firearms so far this year.

At least 674 murder-suicide incidents using firearms occurred in 2023—the highest total for a year in the past decade, narrowly topping the 673 that occurred in 2022.

Update 1/28/23, 8 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add additional information.