NATION : Ex-Husband Guns Down Family
A husband and wife and her two daughters were shot to death early today in their home in this Tacoma suburb by the woman’s ex-husband, who then killed himself, authorities said.
The assailant left a suicide note to his parents saying “he was sorry for what he had to do,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Curt Benson.
The armed man apparently smashed through a sliding glass door at the rear of the house and gunned down the husband in the couple’s bedroom as he was talking to the sheriff’s office on the telephone, Benson said.
When deputies arrived minutes later, shortly after 5 a.m., they found the gunman’s body in the living room, they said, and others throughout the house.
A neighbor said there had been ill feelings between the woman and her ex-husband and a custody battle over the two girls.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
