Two Women, Infant Slain at Santee Home

Two women and a 3-month-old baby were shot to death Tuesday in Santee, and a suspect was later found dead in El Cajon with a gunshot wound in his head, police said.

Deputies were called to a house in Santee at 4 p.m. by neighbors who reported hearing gunshots, said Victoria Reden, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.

The body of one woman was found in the front yard. Inside the house, deputies discovered the slain baby and a wounded woman. She was flown by a Life Flight helicopter to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where she died at 4:46 p.m.

Investigators were unsure of the victims’ identities or the sex of the baby.

Neighbors told deputies of seeing a man carrying a rifle drive off in a blue compact car after hearing the gunfire, Reden said. Deputies were given the car’s license number, and it was quickly traced to an apartment in El Cajon.

The vehicle was spotted near the apartment, and a SWAT team from the El Cajon Police Department surrounded the complex.

Reden said officers entered the suspect’s apartment and found him dead. It was not immediately determined if the man, whose identity was not released, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.