28 January,2009 09:06 AM IST | | Agencies
A man apparently upset at being unemployed killed his wife and five children before committing suicide at their home, said Los Angeles police.
Responding to a report of a shooting, officers discovered the bodies of a man, a woman, an eight-year-old girl, two five-year-old twin girls and two-year-old twin boys, according to LAPD Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner.
"Clearly, the father was despondent, over his job situation," said Garner.
Authorities withheld the names of dead, pending notification of relatives, but a statement from the couple's employer, Kaiser Permanente, identified the man and woman as Ervin Antonio Lupoe (40) and his wife, Ana.
Either before or after the slayings, the man faxed a two-page typewritten letter to a local TV channel and the police communications division, said Garner. The TV station then called police. Garner said, "Obviously he wanted somebody to find the bodies," said Garner. "In the note, he clearly said he was going to kill himself, his wife and his kids."
The TV channel reported that the man claimed in the fax that a medical centre administrator rebuffed them when they showed up to work, told them to file a union grievance and said, "You should have blown your brains out."
At the bottom of the note, the man wrote, "Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?" The note says the couple worked as medical technicians at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.
Garner added, "There's just so many ways. You find alternatives and get a job."
"There was no need to do something so horrific and drastic," said Garner.
The "grisly scene" was discovered shortly after 8 am in their home. "It's horrific. It's a tragedy," said Garner.
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The bodies of the father and three girls were found in an upstairs bedroom at the front of the home. The bodies of the twin boys and wife were found in a back bedroom.
Garner said, "When officers entered, they smelled gunshot residue. We're operating off the premise it happened within minutes before officers got here."
He added that a revolver was found in the home, and the residence had not been ransacked.
