Father’s Suicide Drove Son to Kill Self, Mother : Northridge: Police say trouble started during an argument, but authorities add they may never unravel the full story.

The suicide of his father minutes earlier drove Scott Zipp to fatally shoot his mother and then himself in a bizarre family tragedy discovered by a housekeeper who found the three bodies in the family’s home, police said Friday.

Police investigators say they may never know the full story of what happened inside Carolyn Zipp’s home on Gledhill Street Wednesday night. But they believe the trouble started when Carolyn, 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 three family members, Los Angeles Police Lt. Kyle Jackson said.

Finally David Zipp, who was staying at his ex-wife’s home between business trips, shot himself--presumably in front of his ex-wife and son, Scott, said Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Brandt. David Zipp had been suicidal all week, Brandt said.

After the shot was fired, 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 grabbed one of his guns, fatally shot his mother and then 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 suffered by 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, was 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 David’s and Carolyn’s marriage, neighbors said.

Carolyn was overweight until after her marriage dissolved, neighbor Toni Taback said. But then she began to lose weight and socialize with men, Taback said. When she reconciled with her husband, and he began to stay occasionally at her house, she put the weight back on and stayed home, drawing pictures of clowns, she said.

A scrap metal dealer, David Zipp was described as a “gun nut” by a neighbor, and police said they found numerous firearms in the house. The gun Scott Zipp used was his own, Brandt 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.

A family friend said David Zipp had been depressed recently over the state of his family life and worried about his son Scott’s temper. And he disputed a neighbor’s account of Zipp as a “gun nut” who used racial epithets.

“He was a very genuine, a very caring, compassionate person who would help anyone,” said Stuart Feldman, 35, of West Hills, who said Zipp took him under his wing in business and treated him like a son. “They don’t come any better than that.”