Lancaster Man Kills Himself After Trying to Shoot His Wife

A man shot and killed himself Monday after trying unsuccessfully to shoot his wife and then barricading himself in his house when deputies arrived, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman said.

Lenora Jones, 53, escaped by climbing out a bedroom window of the Newtree Avenue home in Lancaster, said Sgt. Bobby Denham of the Antelope Valley sheriff’s station.

Two hours after the 3:10 p.m. incident began, Billy Ray Jones, 54, was found inside the house with a fatal gunshot wound in the head, authorities said.

The Joneses apparently had argued about money before Billy Ray Jones followed his wife into a bathroom, pointed a pistol at her and pulled the trigger three times, Denham said. The gun did not fire, however, and Lenora Jones ran to a rear bedroom of the home and escaped out a window, Denham said.

Deputies surrounded the house and evacuated about a dozen other nearby homes, Denham said.

A gunshot was heard and when authorities were unable to communicate with him, a sheriff’s special enforcement team entered the house and found Billy Ray Jones’ body in the living room, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Stoneman.