Man Shoots Wife, 5 Kids, Self in California Home

[Sister Iroz]

A father apparently distraught over job problems shot and killed his wife and five young children and then committed suicide at their home Tuesday, police said. The victims included two sets of twins.

The bodies were found when police responded to a report of a shooting in progress in the Wilmington area shortly before 8:30 a.m., Officer Sam Park said. The bodies were found throughout the McFarland Avenue house.

The victims were not immediately identified.

Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner said the man killed his wife, an 8-year-old girl, twin 5-year-old daughters and twin 2-year-old sons. He then killed himself.

A revolver was found at the home.

"He was despondent, clearly, over his job situation," Garner said.

Either before or after killing his family, the man sent a two-page typewritten letter to KABC-TV, Garner said. The Burbank-based television station called police in that suburb, Garner said.

The TV station did not publicly release the note, but Garner described its content.

"Obviously he wanted somebody to find the bodies," Garner said.

"In the note, he clearly said he was going to kill himself, his wife and his kids," Garner said.

Garner said he didn't exactly know the man's job situation, but "it wasn't going well at work."

"Today our worst fear was realized," Garner said. "It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this."

The two-story home, much larger than its one-story neighbors, sits in front of a railroad track. A children's playset stood in the backyard and a pickup truck and sport utility vehicle were parked in the concrete front yard.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,483645,00.html
I find it hard to believe he shoots his whole family and himself over a job. This is horrible and may the wife and kids RIP

[Silvahalo]

The title of the article is, "California Dad's Suicide Note: My Wife and I Planned Family Killings After Losing Jobs"

He and his wife discussed this and decided on it, he claims his wife suggested the suicide. How could any mother decide this was the in the best interest for her children? Killing all 5, ending their lives, everything it might hold. I will never, can never understand this type of thing. I think they were selfish bastards. If they wanted to off themselves, so beit. Call authorities and kill yourself before they arrive...leave the kids to be raised in loving homes. How do you kill children? your very own treasures???

In hard times I know things are even more so grim when you have your children's well being to balance. Other options are available. Did they ever consider down sizing their super large home? Changing careers? How is it that being used to a certain level of living and finding that evaporating gives the option to kill your children even an option?? it's unthinkable.

KABC reports that the man claimed his wife suggested they commit suicide and kill their children so they wouldn't end up with a stranger.

The note says the couple worked as medical technicians at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.

I know living with the tragedy of living without parents would have been devastating for the children, but they would have had a chance at life even if that fate would mean a stranger would care for them. Many want and love children like their very own.
An eternal shame now hangs over the parents who did this ghastly deed...rest in peace little ones, rest in peace.

[flawed_existence]

The wife isn't alive to refute his claim, is she? Sounds like he just wanted to share the blame, to me. Chickenshit asshole.

[malq]

Thanks special, that's horrible. Nothing could ever be so bad to do that. Nothing!

[chatdenuit]

I think the term is "family annihilator."

[Tazzzz]

A photograph of the family from their Facebook site and, bottom left, neighbours of the family home, right, in Wilmington, react to the tragedy.

The murder-suicide of US medical technician Ervin Lupoe - who shot dead his wife and five children before killing himself - has sent shock waves through his Los Angeles neighbourhood.

A neighbour told reporters Lupoe was a loving father and friendly neighbour who had invited him over for dinner and recommended a builder. "He was a nice guy, I wouldn't have nothing to say about him bad. I don't know what happened. Maybe he snapped. Who knows? Maybe it ate him up at work."

Los Angeles police say Lupoe faxed a two-page warning letter to a television newsroom minutes before his tragic killing spree. He called local television channel KABC 7 on Tuesday morning and then faxed through a letter saying he had lost his job and was going to kill himself, his wife Ana, and their five young children.

"After a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone else's hands," Lupoe wrote. At the same time, Los Angeles police said they received a call from a man who said he had arrived home at the same address and found his entire family had been shot dead.

"So it was almost simultaneously we got those two calls and within minutes a unit was in front of the location and went inside but unfortunately it was too late," deputy police chief Kenneth Garner said.

Police believe the officers were minutes too late when they arrived at the house just after 8.22am. "When the officers did enter [the house] they smelled what they believed to be gunshot residue, so right now we're operating off the premise that it was within minutes that the officers got here after the event," Mr Garner said.

Lupoe was found dead with a gun next to him in an upstairs bedroom of the family's house in the southern Los Angeles suburb of Wilmington. His three daughters, Brittney, 8, and twins Jaszmin and Jassely, 5, also lay dead in the room with him.

Police found Mrs Lupoe and their twin boys, Benjamin and Christian, 2, next to each other in a back bedroom, Mr Garner said. Police also found notes inside the house in which Lupoe referred to "work-related issues", the Los Angeles Times reported.

"This was a financial- and job-related issue that led to the slayings," Mr Garner said. "In these tough economic times, there are other options. In my 32 years, I've never seen anything like this ... it's horrific. It's a tragedy."

Signed "Ervin Lupoe", it details the couple's problems with their former employer, health-care group Kaiser Permanente, and concludes with a desperate, hand-written message: "Oh lord my god is there no hope for a widow's son."

Lupoe says he and his wife were being investigated for misrepresenting their employment to an external agency in order to gain benefit. "It seems our (fate) with the company had been decided on Dec 22nd, yet on the 23rd, I was told by my administrator...'You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out'," he wrote.

Calls to the company's human resources department and Lupoe's union were fruitless, he said. "In addition it seems [Kaiser] Permanente want's us to kill ourselves and take our family with us," Lupoe wrote, referring to his administrator's alleged comments.

"They did nothing to the manager who stated such, and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are." Kaiser Permanente confirmed Lupoe and his wife were former employees.

"They were recently terminated," a hospital group spokesman said. "We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of Ana, Ervin and their five children. We are providing support to Kaiser Permanente employees." Kaiser officials said they are co-operating with the LAPD investigation.

Los Angeles newspaper Daily Breeze reported that court records showed Lupoe was licensed to carry firearms and batons. It said the court records also showed that the Lupoe family was involved in a lawsuit stemming from a car accident in Wilmington in May 2006.

There have been several high-profile mass shootings in the Los Angeles region in recent months.

Last October, a 45-year-old man shot his wife, three children and mother-in-law before killing himself, reportedly because of financial woes.

-

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/day...818470116.html

[Tazzzz]

Here is the letter he faxed and what they are saying is the suicide note. It pretty much claims the killing was all the wifes idea. They blame Kiaser Permanente for telling them to kill them selfs. Not sure what the real truth is only that 5 children are dead because of shitty parents. All of this was typed up and he hand wrote on the end " Oh Lord my God is there any hope for a widows son" , Its a pretty strange thing to say, Its a code Mason's used to say to each other when they needed help. It actually means a whole lot more than that, Its a reference to Jesus raising the dead widows son back to life, and that is another reference to the prophet Elijah doing the same thing. There by makeing Jesus the reincarnation of Elijah. Its hard to say what the heck he was trying to mean by saying it in the fax. Some cryptic gospel thing.

To whom it may concern:

"To start off about this tragic story, my name is Ervin Lupoe, my wife Ana Lupoe, my eldest daughter Brittney Lupoe-8yrs, my twin daughters Jaszmin, Jassely-5yrs, my twin boys Benjamin, Christian 2yrs 4mo.

"We worked at Kiaser (sic) Permanente West Los Angeles. My wife as a mammo. Tech. damn fine one ask everyone including the physicians. My new position as a Special procedural tech. My position was a fight to get, in fact had to file a grievance with the union for discrimination and HIPPA violations, then another administrator had to correct the DA (redacted) regarding the union procedures, the ADA who did this is, I truly believe is the reason, well not the whole reason, but added kindling to the fire, why we are dead, (redacted).

"Well my wife and I were being investigated for misrepresentation of our employment to an outside agency for the benefit to ourselves's, childcare. When after we had our initial interview on Dec. 19th. It seems our fat with the company had been decided on Dec. 22nd, yet on the 23rd, I was told by my administrator, (redacted) that, `You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out.' After such admonishment

from my administrator, assuming there had been a decision reached, I contacted my union rep. who stated goto HR and inform them of the incident, and to the union reps. knowledge there was no decision made.
"(redacted) the HR person handling our matter stated that there was no decision reached as of yet and that an outside agency was handling the matter. (redacted) stated to me that she had spoken to (redacted) and (redacted) concerning the statement made, but (redacted) completely denied making such a comment. I produced the names of the employees, and (redacted) reached me two days later stating (redacted) thought about the matter and did state (redacted) made the comment. Then (redacted) asked me how I would accept (redacted) apology, but not to answer just yet, think about it a couple days and let (redacted) know. I left the office and two days later my wife and I were terminated. Our administrator also stated that we would not be eligible for unemployment, my wife applied anyway.

"We returned Kiaser (sic) Permanente's property prior to leaving the facility, yet the company could not provide us with our license's so that we may look for other employment. I let the (redacted) of the facility know what was occurring yet she stated there was nothing she could do but refer us the HR or our union rep. We were told by (redacted) that we should have received our license's as they were mailed, yet we did not and when we attempted to reach her concerning the matter and unable to reach her, again we reached the assistant administrator of the facility who again stated the same to contact HR. We stated we have attempter (sic) but there was know response. Then when (redacted) reached us, she stated don't contact (redacted) ... any more concerning any problems.

"So after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone's else's hands, in addition it seems Kiaser Permanente want's us to kill ourselves and take our family with us. They did nothing to the manager who stated such, and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are.

"Ervin Lupoe

Oh Lord my God is there any hope for a widows son!

http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_11566700

[theskyisfalling]

Losing your job does not give one any logical reason to kill one's self. You downsize, budget, scrimp, sell, and pawn until some form of employment is procurred once again. The least they could have done is moved out of their home sold some of their belongings and gotten an apartment. Shit, they could have gotten the NAACP involved and prolly gotten things resolved very quickly. In the meanwhile, they could have found some sort of employment.
Stupid fucks...and now five babies are dead.

[Silvahalo]

Losing your job does not give one any logical reason to kill one's self. You downsize, budget, scrimp, sell, and pawn until some form of employment is procurred once again. The least they could have done is moved out of their home sold some of their belongings and gotten an apartment. Shit, they could have gotten the NAACP involved and prolly gotten things resolved very quickly. In the meanwhile, they could have found some sort of employment.
Stupid fucks...and now five babies are dead.

I totally agree with you. Anything, everything, not your children and your life!!

[Silvahalo]

The wife isn't alive to refute his claim, is she? Sounds like he just wanted to share the blame, to me. Chickenshit asshole.

Perhaps, I guess we will never know.

[Silvahalo]

... He called local television channel KABC 7 on Tuesday morning and then faxed through a letter saying he had lost his job and was going to kill himself, his wife Ana, and their five young children.

"After a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone else's hands," Lupoe wrote. At the same time, Los Angeles police said they received a call from a man who said he had arrived home at the same address and found his entire family had been shot dead.

This is odd. It sounds to me that he killed his family, including his wife, without her prior knowledge, then goes on to say it was his wife who thought it would be best that they all should die, including the children.

I guess we will never know for certain, if this was a planned murder suicide by both parents.

It reads like they were in a lot of trouble, a lot....still, death should have never been an option. Had my employer said that to me, I would have quit and proved him a bastard. I believe, when the tough times come along, you do what is necessary to survive. I'm no stranger to hard work and I'd do most things in a heart-beat to keep my family afloat. This wasn't the end of times for them, just the time to change the what they do to survive. He must have let his depression an desperation consume him, and decided this was the answer....there is always a better answer than death.

Such a lovely, lovely family...

[Dakota Valkyrie]

I have gone through some pretty tough times in my life. During those times, not once did the permanent solution to a temporary problem seem like a good idea.

What has always sustained me is that I know they always go away. Even when I don't know when or what the outcome will be. Even if I don't like the thought of what I imagine the outcome to be. No matter what, I have always survived and been better for it.

I can't imagine that there is anything more important in my life that my kids. I would live in a box under a bridge before I would destroy their potential.

[chatdenuit]

1) I am not entirely sure I understand what his horrible situation was. He lost his job? Is there more to it than that? His suicide note is so poorly written; I'm just totally lost...

2) He faxed a warning letter? Tell me the local TV station immediately notified police.

[RaVen Blackehart]

1) I am not entirely sure I understand what his horrible situation was. He lost his job? Is there more to it than that? His suicide note is so poorly written; I'm just totally lost...

2) He faxed a warning letter? Tell me the local TV station immediately notified police.

Lupoe says he and his wife were being investigated for misrepresenting their employment to an external agency in order to gain benefit. "It seems our (fate) with the company had been decided on Dec 22nd, yet on the 23rd, I was told by my administrator...'You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out'," he wrote.

Calls to the company's human resources department and Lupoe's union were fruitless, he said. "In addition it seems [Kaiser] Permanente want's us to kill ourselves and take our family with us," Lupoe wrote, referring to his administrator's alleged comments.

"They did nothing to the manager who stated such, and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are." Kaiser Permanente confirmed Lupoe and his wife were former employees.

"They were recently terminated," a hospital group spokesman said. "We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of Ana, Ervin and their five children. We are providing support to Kaiser Permanente employees." Kaiser officials said they are co-operating with the LAPD investigation.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/day...818470116.html

[Sister Iroz]

This is odd. It sounds to me that he killed his family, including his wife, without her prior knowledge, then goes on to say it was his wife who thought it would be best that they all should die, including the children.

I guess we will never know for certain, if this was a planned murder suicide by both parents.

It reads like they were in a lot of trouble, a lot....still, death should have never been an option. Had my employer said that to me, I would have quit and proved him a bastard. I believe, when the tough times come along, you do what is necessary to survive. I'm no stranger to hard work and I'd do most things in a heart-beat to keep my family afloat. This wasn't the end of times for them, just the time to change the what they do to survive. He must have let his depression an desperation consume him, and decided this was the answer....there is always a better answer than death.

Such a lovely, lovely family...

Such a sad terrible waste of a beautiful family. Nothing in life is worth killing your family and yourself. Believe me my husband and myself have been on a rollercoaster ride for 21 years + and we would never consider this.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

This was a financial- and job-related issue that led to the slayings...
the couple worked as medical technicians at Kaiser Permanente...
"They were recently terminated," ...
problems with their former employer...
Calls to the company's human resources department and Lupoe's union were fruitless, he said....
why leave our children in someone's else's hands...
The two-story home, much larger than its one-story neighbors...

Selfish people. Sounds like they expected someone else to help them before they helped themselves. And even in death trying to blame others.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The ONLY ones in this tragedy I feel for:

Ervin Lupoe was at least one month behind on his mortgage. He says the 40-year-old Lupoe owed at least $15,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and thousands more on a line of credit.

Lupoe and his wife, Ana, recently were fired from their hospital jobs after being investigated for lying about their income to qualify for cheaper child care.

Cortez says Lupoe planned to take his family to his brother-in-law in Garden City, Kan. The family's vehicle was packed with children's clothing and snow chains.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_11573995

At the end of his letter, Lupoe handwrote, "Oh Lord my God is there no hope for a widow's son!" Among Mormons and Masons, that statement is considered an urgent call for help.
[...]
Officers arriving at the two-story house minutes later detected the scent of freshly fired gunshots and discovered a revolver beside Lupoe's body. His 8-year-old daughter, Brittney, and twin 5-year-old daughters, Jaszmin and Jassely, were dead next to him.

Lupoe's wife and the couple's identical twin 2-year-old boys, Benjamin and Christian, lay dead in a rear upstairs bedroom.

Garner said he had never seen anything like the crime scene in his more than 20 years on the police force.

"It was a grisly scene," he said. "It's horrific."

Jasmin Gomez, 18, who lives in a trailer across the street from the Lupoe home, said blood seeped from the upstairs rooms through the walls of a recent addition and spilled out the family's garage.

Neighbors watched the scene as coroner's officials carried the seven bodies out of the house on gurneys covered in blue sheets.

Inside the home, police found the same faxed suicide letter detailing Lupoe's dispute with his former employer.

"It looks like there may have been grounds for the termination," said Los Angeles police Capt. William Hayes. "It wasn't that he was laid off as a result of the economic situation."
[...]
Los Angeles Unified School District officials and police said the Lupoes pulled their children from school Jan. 15 and said they were moving to Kansas.
[...]
Hawthorne resident Delores Mackerl-Jackson said the Lupoe family sat next to her in a booth at the Red Lobster in Torrance on Jan. 17.

She recalled the twins when she saw the family's photographs.

"They all seemed kind of tense and very quiet," Mackerl-Jackson said. "I wondered at the time what was wrong. My husband and I even commented that the wife looked stressed. We assumed the kids were a lot of work for her."
[...]
Records show Lupoe was licensed by the state to carry firearms and batons, and held a license to work as a security guard through 2007.

Court records show that the Lupoe family was involved in a lawsuit stemming from a car accident in May 2006 in Wilmington.

His attorney described the traffic accident as minor and said family members were set to receive a small settlement. The case was scheduled for court today.
[...]
the Lupoes remodeled their home within the last two years, and let neighbors come over to look at the addition.
[...]

[Silvahalo]

...utterly horrific...

Jasmin Gomez, 18, who lives in a trailer across the street from the Lupoe home, said blood seeped from the upstairs rooms through the walls of a recent addition and spilled out the family's garage.

...

I wish the mother and children were put to rest together.

Relatives of the family that died in a murder-suicide last week say burials will take place in California and Guatemala.

Details were announced Monday at the Guatemalan Consulate by 37-year-old Yolondo Lupoe, the sister of the man police say shot his wife, five children and himself.

The sister says the families decided that Ervin Lupoe and the couple's twin sons will be buried in California, and the body of his wife, Ana, will be returned to her native Guatemala along with the bodies of the couple's three daughters.

The relatives expressed thanks for the prayers and support they've received since the tragedy.

Continued...http://www.ktla.com/landing_mostinte...83&feedID=1080

Such beautiful treasures...