Christmas Day Family Violence Leaves 4 Dead

In separate but similar incidents of murderous domestic violence, two Southern California men shot members of their own households to death on Christmas Day and then turned the weapons on themselves, police said Sunday.

Four deaths were attributed to the incidents in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and one of the gunmen remained in extremely critical condition Sunday.

In the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, a 35-year-old man shot and killed his wife on Christmas Day, then turned the shotgun on himself, apparently as their two small children watched. The children--a boy about 6 years old and a girl about 3--were not wounded.

It was less than a year after the couple’s daughter committed suicide in the same house in the 4500 block of Huntington Drive North, police said.

The man was in extremely critical condition Sunday after undergoing surgery for a head wound, a spokesman for Los Angles County-USC Medical Center said.

The man’s name was not released. A relative said the man and his wife had been quarreling just before the shootings, police reported. The county coroner’s office said the woman, Maria Herrera Marquez, 32, was shot in the face.

The couple’s 16-year-old daughter committed suicide in February by shooting herself with a rifle, police said. Police Sgt. Carl Tomlinson said the couple’s two small children appeared to have been playing with their Christmas toys when the Saturday shooting occurred.

In the Orange County community of Stanton, a 19-year-old man shot to death his girlfriend, 22, and her 4-month-old son before killing himself with the same weapon Saturday afternoon, authorities said. Their identities were not released.

About 2 p.m. Saturday, neighbors on the street of modest single-family homes, apartments and small businesses said they heard two gunshots from the room the three shared, followed by a third shot a short time later.

“I heard a couple of blasts,” said Hector Lopez, 31, who lives next door in the 8200 block of Cerritos Avenue. “I went outside (the house) and I saw blood splattered all over the window” at the rear of the home. Lopez described the gunman as “a real jealous man. In Mexico, we call it machismo.”

The three victims lived in one bedroom of a three-bedroom home, said Nicholas Munoz, 39, who said he owns the small stucco dwelling. Munoz, who said he and his family were not at home at the time of the shooting, rented a bedroom and bathroom to the victims for $280 a month.

Neighbors said that the man, an upholsterer, kept to himself and tried to keep the woman confined to the house. The woman reportedly left him about a month ago, but they got back together last week and visited Knott’s Berry Farm and the beach together Friday and Saturday.