A six-day-old baby girl and a two-year-old boy were among four people found dead in a suspected murder-suicide in .
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) responded to reports of gunshots inside a home on Londelius Avenue on Wednesday evening, according to media reports.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner (LACME), one victim, a man, was identified as 31-year-old Khajag Basmajian. The two children were identified as two-year-old Alec Basmajian and Ella Basmajian, who was just six days old.
Citing law enforcement sources, KABC reported that evidence gathered at the suggested that another victim, a woman who has not yet been identified but was reportedly in her 30s, shot the man and the two children before turning the gun on herself.
Here’s what we know
Police responded to a call at a North Hills residence around 7:50 p.m. on Wednesday and found four people from apparent gunshot wounds.
Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Mike Bland said, “This is an absolute tragedy, and given the number of deceased, the Robbery-Homicide Special Section is handling the investigation.”
Bland said there are no suspects at large, and detectives believe the incident was a murder-suicide.
The LACME has not confirmed the causes or manners of death. Autopsies have been scheduled. A neighbour of the family told KTLA that she heard commotion on the night of the tragedy and added, “We live a few blocks away, and we heard all the helicopters last night. We didn’t know what was going on. But to wake up this morning and to hear about this and these kids, it’s really heartbreaking.”
Filicide cases rise across US
Cases of filicide, the legal term for when a parent kills their child, appear to be increasing in the .
Earlier this month, a Texas woman was charged with capital murder after two of her children were found dead in a car that had been set on fire in San Antonio.
The woman, Marlene Vidal, 34, of Edinburgh, Texas, was arrested after the bodies of her children, aged five and seven, were discovered in a vehicle engulfed in flames in a warehouse parking lot, according to police.
Last month, a CNN report citing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) noted that there are nearly 500 arrests for filicide each year in the United States. In April, a Louisiana man and former soldier went on a killing spree across three homes in Shreveport and killed eight children, seven of whom were his own, in what was considered the deadliest mass shooting in two years.
Shamar Elkins, a 31-year-old father and former soldier, was reportedly suffering from issues. According to The New York Times, a woman who raised him but was not his biological mother said he had attempted to take his own life in February.
In a separate incident in January this year, a man in Lakewood killed his wife and youngest daughter before turning the gun on himself. When deputies arrived at the scene, they interviewed a 19-year-old woman who reported that her father had fired at her. She was not injured and was subsequently taken to the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station.
Upon entering the residence, deputies discovered 52-year-old Hector Lionel Alfaro with a gunshot wound to the upper body. A short time later, they found his 48-year-old wife in a bedroom suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso. In a separate bedroom, officers located Alfaro’s 17-year-old daughter, who had also sustained a gunshot wound to the upper torso.
