US Meltdown: Jobless Indian-origin man kills family, Himself in Los Angeles
An unemployed man with an advanced finance degree who was despondent over his own financial problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and then himself in an upscale home in a gated community, police said Monday.
Officers found the bodies Monday morning after the wife failed to show up at a neighbor’s home to go to work, Deputy Chief Michel Moore said. The deaths occurred sometime after Saturday evening.
A handgun that had been bought Sept. 16 was found near the father’s body, Moore said. The father left two suicide notes _ one for police and one for friends and relatives _ and a will.
The notes attest to the man’s financial difficulties, and he takes responsibility for killing his family members, Moore said.
California is one of the worst-hit states in the US home foreclosure crisis, but police said the gunman was not the owner of the home, located in a gated community of Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley.
victims included Rajaram’s mother-in-law, Indra Ramasesham, 69, and his 19-year-old son Krishna Rajaram, a Fulbright Scholar and honor student at UCLA.
Also dead were Rajaram’s wife, 39, and their two other sons, 12 and 7. Some of the victims had been shot more than once and their identities were not immediately confirmed, he said.
“Due to the nature of their injuries, it’s been a little difficult,” Winter said. There were no signs of struggle, he said.
Police first found the mother-in-law shot in her bed in a downstairs bedroom, Moore said.
Upstairs, the couple’s eldest old son was shot in the master bedroom; the wife in another bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head; the two younger sons in the bedroom they shared, both shot in the head. The 12-year-old was on the floor and the 7-year-old in bed, Moore said.
The suspect was also in that bedroom, a gun still in his hand.
The killings are thought to have occurred after 6 p.m. Saturday, when the man was last reported seen, Moore said.
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