A family of seven was found dead in their Los Angeles home on Tuesday morning, victims of an apparent murder-suicide.
The LAPD was alerted to the situation after Ervin Lupoe called KABC-TV and faxed them a letter before taking his own life. Ervin stated in the letter that he and his wife, Ana Lupoe, had just been fired from Kaiser Permanente.
Police told KABC-TV that they think Ervin was depressed over losing his job and his family’s financial standing.
When police arrived at the family’s home on McFarland Avenue, they found the bodies of Ervin and Ana and their five children. All of them died after being shot in the head. Some were shot more than once.
"They were in separate rooms: the dad and the girls in one room, and the wife and the boys in another room,” LAPD Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner told KABC. “When the officers came in, they smelled what they believed to be fresh gunshot residue in the air.”
The couple’s children were an 8-year-old girl and two sets of twins: a pair of 5-year- old girls and pair of 2-year-old boys.
Authorities say they don’t think outside gunmen were involved in the incident.
– Sonya Eskridge
Family photo courtesy CNN
House photo courtesy The New York Times
