Family’s Fate: Slaying, 2 Suicides

The suicide of his father Wednesday night drove Scott Zipp to fatally shoot his mother minutes later and then kill himself in a bizarre family tragedy in Northridge, police said Friday.

Police investigators say they may never know the full story of what happened in Carolyn Zipp’s home on Gledhill Street. But they believe the trouble started when Carolyn Zipp, 58, her ex-husband David, 60, and Scott, 29, began one of their frequent arguments.

“There was some indication there were mutual threats” among all the family members, Los Angeles Police Lt. Kyle Jackson said.

Eventually, David Zipp, who was staying at his ex-wife’s home between business trips, shot himself--presumably in front of the two other family members, said Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Brandt. David Zipp had been suicidal all week, Brandt said.

After the shooting, Carolyn and Scott Zipp continued arguing, Brandt said.

“It probably was a heated argument pointing guilt, saying ‘You did this’ and ‘You did that,’ ” Brandt said. “It all went downhill from there.”

Scott Zipp then killed his mother and shot himself, Brandt said.

The three bodies, lying in separate parts of the house, were discovered about 8 a.m. Thursday by the family maid, Brandt said. Pistols lay by both David and Scott Zipp.

The gunshot wounds on the bodies of David and Scott Zipp “are consistent with suicide,” Brandt said, but he declined to describe evidence found at the home until an autopsy, scheduled for this weekend, is completed.

The deaths were not the first tragedy to strike the Zipp family. David and Carolyn Zipp’s oldest son killed himself with a pistol several years ago, contributing to the breakup of their marriage, neighbors said.

“The whole thing is a tragic set of circumstances,” Brandt said. “It’s a shame it couldn’t be headed off earlier. You wonder, if somebody had gotten to them beforehand, would this have happened--three family members dead?”

Jackson said no one will ever know precisely what the family was arguing about or why the guns were fired.