A California neighborhood is in shock after a father and his 10-year-old twin sons were discovered dead in what authorities suspect to be a murder-suicide incident.
Authorities report that a man, estimated to be in his mid-40s, allegedly shot his young sons inside their Canoga Park residence, located roughly 25 minutes from Los Angeles, on Sunday evening around 7:15 p.m. Following this, he reportedly took his own life.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has identified the incident as a probable murder-suicide, with the father being the primary suspect in the tragic event.
In video footage shared by ABC7, an inconsolable woman was seen weeping near the scene, comforted by a man. Her identity remains undisclosed.
Meanwhile, other family members and friends stood nearby, visibly stunned and grappling with the devastating news.
“It’s incredibly tragic. Two children and a father—an entire family,” an anonymous woman at the site expressed to the outlet. “No one should have to endure this.”
Authorities spent hours at the scene collecting evidence from inside and outside the home, which sits directly across the street from Lanark Park, a family-friendly park.
While many of the people at the scene knew the family, complete strangers also showed up to pay their respects.
A woman cries outside the home where an unidentified man and his children were found deceased in Canoga Park, California, in a suspected murder-suicide
Their deaths are believed to be the result of a murder-suicide, and the father is the suspected gunman, the Los Angeles Police Department said
‘I felt like, even though we might not see their family, we thought that they needed some prayer and some thought, because like, I don’t know, I know me personally, whether I know them or not, I would want to pray for someone’s healing and just overall as a person, because that’s really sad and I don’t wish that upon anybody,’ the same woman told the outlet.
Another local, CC Pelkey, told KTLA5: ‘My heart is breaking for this family because this is tragic. This should never happen to anybody.
‘The kids never had a chance to have a life, and I don’t know why the father, if he did have issues, couldn’t have gotten help. Why? To take his children’s lives and his own life. It’s just, there are no words right now.’
The investigation into their deaths remains ongoing, the LAPD told the Daily Mail.
It comes just weeks after another LA family lost their lives in a murder-suicide that is believed to have been carried out by a mother.
Marine Basmajian, 29, shot and killed her husband, Khajag Basmajian, 31, and their two young children, Alec and Ella, before turning the gun on herself around 8pm PT on May 27, authorities said.
Officers rushed to the family’s $833,000 home in North Hills after multiple reports of a shooting came in.
Other heartbroken family members and friends stood in silence, trying to process what happened
The investigation into their deaths remains ongoing, the LAPD told the Daily Mail
It remains unclear what sparked the deadly incident, but a neighbor suggested it might have been due to postpartum depression.
‘It’s so depressing, it’s so devastating for everyone. Postpartum [depression] is real,’ Karen Banuelos told the Los Angeles Times, referring to Marine having her second child just days before.
‘To get possessed to do that? It’s just, there’s no words,’ she added.
Breaking news… updates to follow.
