LANCASTER: Four children and a woman were found shot to death in a southern
California home and a man believed to be the children's father was detained, the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said on Monday.
The victims were found Sunday night in a home in the city of
Lancaster in the high desert
Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles, the department said in a statement.
Deputies found a woman, a girl and three boys with gunshot wounds to the upper torso and paramedics pronounced all of them dead at the scene, the department said. All of the children were under age 12.
The man believed to be the children's father was detained after he showed up at the lobby of the Lancaster sheriff's station and was being interviewed by investigators, the department said.
The sheriff's statement did not disclose when he arrived at the station or what reason he gave for going there.
Deputy Juanita Navarro, a department spokesperson, said such interviews can take several hours and it was not known if the man had been arrested.
The identities of the victims and the man believed to be the children's father were not immediately made public.
Deputies went to the home because of a "rescue responding" call. Navarro said that is a code that means paramedics have been dispatched to a location.