Monday, January 25, 2010

Palmdale, CA: Palmdale gunman kills sister and ex-wife, then commmits suicide, authorities say

January 25, 2010 | 5:58 pm
Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators say a Palmdale man killed his sister, then drove to his ex-wife's home and fatally shot her in front of their young child before fleeing and taking his own life Monday inside a truck on a Lancaster highway Monday.

The deadly rampage began around 7 a.m. and left detectives with three crime scenes in the Antelope Valley.

The 31-year-old gunman called his father about 7 a.m. Monday to inform him that he had killed his sister and intended to take his own life as well. The father, whom authorities declined to name, immediately dashed to a home in 38700 block of 31st Street East in Palmdale, where he found his 33-year-old daughter dead, investigators said.

About the same time, sheriff's deputies responded to 911 calls of shots fired in 45300 block of Beech Avenue in Lancaster. There, sheriff's deputies discovered the gunman's 34-year-old ex-wife with multiple gunshot wounds. She died of her wounds at the scene.

According to Sheriff's Lt. Pat Nelson, detectives subsequently learned that the man had shot his ex-wife in front of their daughter.

Deputies later found the gunman's body inside his sister's vehicle on Avenue E and Sierra Highway, Lancaster. He had apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, detectives said.

Investigators are withholding the identities of the dead, pending notification of their extended families.

-- Richard Winton

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