Father, 2 Sons Killed, 2 Hurt by Gas Fumes

A father and his two sons died in their South-Central Los Angeles home Sunday, and the mother and daughter were in critical condition after the father left his van running, filling the two-story house with toxic carbon monoxide fumes as he prepared to wake his family for church services, officials said.

The family members were found by firefighters shortly after 6 a.m., two in bed, two sprawled in an upstairs hallway and one on the living room floor. All had been overcome by the odorless, colorless gas, which was circulated within five minutes by the home’s central heating system, authorities said.

“Since all the windows were closed because it was so cold, he literally created a gas chamber for his family,” said Lt. Sergio Robleto of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau homicide detail.

Armando Berumen, 45, and his two sons, Armando Jr., 12, and Noel, 9, were dead at the scene, police said. Irma Berumen, 38, and the Berumens’ daughter, Caroline, 16, were hospitalized in critical condition. Sunday

Parishioners at the Catholic church where the father and mother were lay ministers flocked to the scene Sunday morning as police combed the pale blue stucco home that Berumen built about three years ago.

Police believe that Berumen apparently realized that something was wrong but fell unconscious on the living room floor before he could save his family.

Robleto said Berumen had started the van in the ground-floor garage to warm its engine before waking his family for 7 a.m. church services.

“He hadn’t started the van for a week, and he wanted to make sure it would run when he was ready to go to church,” Robleto said.

But Berumen apparently forgot to turn off the engine. The van was parked next to the heater that forces air through the home.

The heater bears a sticker warning against starting a car near the system.

“He might has well have signed his family’s own death warrant at that time,” Robleto said.

Judging by the location and position of the bodies, and how they were dressed, Robleto said, it appears that the father tried to get them out of the house before “he was overcome himself.”

The van’s engine created so much heat that it set off the home’s fire alarm system. Hearing the alarms, neighbors called firefighters, who tried desperately to resuscitate the victims after pulling them into the driveway of the neatly kept home.

“They were just lying there not saying anything,” said neighbor and longtime family friend Jorge Duarte, fighting back tears. “Oh my God, I can’t believe this happened.”

“They were a wonderful family,” said Sister Florence Waters of Ascension Catholic Church in South-Central Los Angeles, where the Berumen family was active in parish affairs. “We are all grieving terribly.”

Armando and Irma Berumen were Eucharistic ministers, helping priests pass communion wine during Sunday services. The father was also a member of the church council.

The family was last seen together at Saturday night church services and returned home shortly after 9 p.m., Robleto said.

About 7 a.m. Sunday, the very time that they were supposed to have attended services, they were instead being attended to by firefighters and ambulance personnel.

Waters, along with a priest and several church members, went to the home on 104th Street near Broadway to offer support to a steady stream of family members and friends who arrived after being told the news.

Edgar Roda, Irma Berumen’s brother, cried as he was hugged by one of the parish’s priests, Father Jesus Ramirez. A friend hid her face in some bushes and sobbed hysterically.

The Berumens had emigrated from Mexico about 15 years ago, family members said. They lived for about 10 years in the neighborhood, where many immigrants from Mexico and Central America reside in modest single-story wood-frame homes.

The family also owns a small bungalow home on the same lot, where they lived before moving into the new two-story house.

Friends and family described the Berumens as quiet, hard-working and deeply religious. They said Armando Berumen had his own gardening business.

Waters said Caroline attends Locke High School. Armando Jr. went to Gompers Middle School and Noel attended 107th Street Elementary School, friends said.

“They’re good kids,” said neighbor Abraham Garibay, 10, who had played basketball the evening before with Armando Jr. and Noel, using the hoop that the boys’ father had set up over the driveway.

Neighbor Duarte said he called the Fire Department shortly after 6 a.m., thinking that the alarm system had been accidentally triggered while the family was away.

“But when we got there, we realized it was not a routine call at all,” said Battalion Chief Mario Rueda. Instead, firefighters were met with an unsettling scene when they entered the locked home through a second-floor window:

Irma and Caroline Berumen lay partially dressed in the upstairs hallway. Armando Jr. and Noel were still in their beds. And the father was downstairs, on the living-room floor.

Witnesses said the firefighters carried Caroline down a ladder and pulled the others out the front door and onto the concrete driveway, where the victims were given oxygen and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The two women were in critical but stable condition at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, said spokesman Ron Yukelson.

They were being treated in the pressurized, pure-oxygen environment of a hyperbaric chamber “to help push the poison out of the bloodstream,” Yukelson said. “The potential is there for some brain damage. . . .”

Carbon Monoxide No. 1 Cause of Poisoning Deaths

Carbon monoxide is the leading cause of poisoning deaths in the nation, responsible for 1,500 deaths and 10,000 illnesses annually, according to the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

The odorless, colorless gas kills by replacing the oxygen in the bloodstream, strangling its victims from within. It frequently strikes when the victim is asleep, and symptoms include fatigue, lethargy, headaches and nausea.

One way to track the silent and odorless gas is with carbon monoxide detectors, which are built like smoke detectors and cost $50 to $85. But the May issue of Consumer Reports reported that it sometimes takes two hours to silence the alarms once they are triggered, which is a drawback for consumers.

Also on the market are carbon monoxide monitoring cards that change color when exposed to the gas. But those cards would not alert a sleeping person to a carbon monoxide threat.

Carbon monoxide most commonly seeps into a living area from leaks in appliances such as water or kerosene heaters. To minimize the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in the home, experts suggest:

* Checking heaters for leaks and making sure they are properly ventilated;

* Not cooking indoors or heating with a hibachi or any other barbecue device;

* Keeping fireplaces clean and making sure smoke from the fire is drawn up the chimney and out of the house.