Children Recovering After Seeing Parents Slain : Violence: Their father shot their mother, then himself as the five siblings, ages 2 to 14, looked on, officials say. ‘What will happen to us?’ one asked.

The children who witnessed their father shoot their mother before killing himself began to overcome their shock Thursday, and mourned with their mother’s family.

After the violence had ended, and their parents’ bodies were taken away Wednesday night, the five children--ages 2 to 14--of Adela Sanchez and Jose Baeza could only listen in shocked silence as a police counselor talked to them. There were no tears.

“Should we go to school?” one finally asked. “What will happen to us?” asked another.

But once the police were finished and the children found themselves with relatives, the two boys and three girls finally unleashed their grief at their grandmother’s home, and cried over the loss of their parents. Paula Lopez, Sanchez’s mother, will ask for full custody of her grandchildren, relatives said Thursday.

The Baeza children were no strangers to loud arguments between their mother and father, who would drink and then beat their mother, said Maria Elaina Ramos, Sanchez’s cousin. Baeza, 29, and Sanchez, 32, were not married and Baeza did not live with his children at the apartment in the 100 block of South Hamlin Street.

“They know the reality of what happened. The youngest one--and she’s only 2 years old--told me, ‘My father pom-pom my mom,’ ” Ramos said, mimicking the child’s sounds for the shooting.

Sanchez’s relatives did not want the children to be interviewed. Ramos said the children will return to school when they are strong enough to face any questions from their classmates.

Baeza came to Sanchez’s apartment Wednesday night and argued with her, police said. The shooting happened shortly before 10 p.m. Sanchez was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange in critical condition and died half an hour later. Baeza was pronounced dead at the apartment.

Their children were in the apartment and were not hurt, said Michael Wellins, a crisis intervention specialist for Orange police.

Police have come to the apartment several times in the past to investigate domestic disputes but Wellins was not sure what the arguments were about.

Officials made arrangements Thursday for the children’s welfare with Sanchez’s relatives, who live nearby.

“Thank goodness there is a fairly large extended family that could provide care for the kids,” Wellins said.

He talked to the children Wednesday night at an aunt’s home, where the eldest boy of 14 translated into Spanish for his relatives.

The children “weren’t very expressive as to their emotions, but that is common in a trauma case,” Wellins said. “They were remarkable in their verbal skills and awareness in what happened. And they are heartbreakingly beautiful kids.”

Unfortunately, domestic disputes that leave children as orphans are not rare, he said.

“And it’s never pleasant and always difficult to handle,” said Wellins, who has headed the department’s crisis intervention unit for 16 years.

The children are Danny, 14, Miguel, 11, Joanna, 8, Zulicca, 5 and Elizabeth, 2.