Four children and a woman were found shot dead in a Southern California residence and the children’s father has been arrested as a suspect, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
The victims—a girl, three boys, and their grandmother—were found with gunshot wounds to their upper torso, and were pronounced dead at the scene, the officials said.
The authorities did not disclose the identities of the victims, saying only that one of the children is an infant and the rest were all under the age of 12. The grandmother was in her 50s.
The bodies were found on Sunday night in a home in the city of Lancaster north in the high desert Antelope Valley of Los Angeles, according to a statement from the sheriff’s department. The deputies went to the home following a “rescue responding” call, which a department spokesperson Deputy Juanita Navarro said means that paramedics have been dispatched to a location.
The children’s mother discovered the victims’ bodies and called 911, the sheriff’s department’s Lt. Brandon Dean told The Associated Press.
Minutes after the mother arrived home, the children’s father, Germarcus David, showed up at the lobby of the Lancaster sheriff’s station to turn himself in. David was arrested after being interviewed by investigators and was held in lieu of $2 million bail.
He is expected to make an initial appearance at the Antelope Valley Courthouse on Tuesday.
Dean said the grandmother did not live with the family, and was there to babysit. He said there were previously no signs of domestic violence.
