Deputies Burst Into Home, Find Couple Dead

Acting on a teen-ager’s tearful report that “dad shot mom,” sheriff’s deputies stormed a house in Lynwood early Friday morning only to discover that both parents were dead.

The victims were identified as Ramon and Arminda Alatorre, both 45. Police said the husband apparently shot his wife to death during a marital dispute, then shot himself.

Deputies were called to the tidy brown stucco home on Duncan Avenue about 5:30 a.m.

Deputy Dan Cox said that the couple’s 13-year-old son, who had fled to a neighbor’s house with his 15-year-old sister, told officers that his father had shot his mother.

SWAT Team Summoned

Deputies surrounded the house and alerted the special weapons team. Then, when a single shot rang out at 6:35 a.m., special weapons team members lobbed tear gas into the home and stormed through the door.

Several residents of the working-class neighborhood reported that the couple, who had lived there for about 12 years, had quarreled in recent months over an extramarital affair.

Mark Ware, 19, said Ramon Alatorre had sat on the curb outside his house drinking and weeping last week as he spoke about his marital problems.

“He was just sitting out there crying and talking about his wife,” Ware said. “ . . . He kept saying that he loved his wife.”

Theresa Guerrero, the Alatorres’ next-door neighbor, said Alatorre had recently installed a telephone in his back yard so that he could monitor his wife’s conversations, adding that he seemed nervous in recent weeks.