Murder-Suicide Leaves Five Dead In Yuba City

Police in Yuba City say a father distraught over the break-up of his marriage shot and killed his wife and three young sons this morning before taking his own life. Two of the couple´s daughters escaped from the one-bedroom house where at least 11 people from two families had been staying.

Officers responding to a frantic 911 call of a domestic argument just before 5:00 am Saturday found a gruesome murder-suicide. A 26-year-old mother and two of her boys were slain by bullets to the head and another boy and the 31-year-old father were barely alive with the same wounds. He died soon after. Some of the victims appeared to be shot in their sleep.

Police say the husband and wife, who have not been identified, were “in the process of getting a divorce and that he had recently arrived at the house from Yuma, Arizona with the three boys.” Two of the slain boys were 9-year-old twins and the other was 6-years-old.