Watts Man Kills Wife, Daughter, Self

An unemployed Watts auto mechanic killed his wife and daughter, wounded another daughter and a niece and then killed himself Wednesday after an apparent domestic dispute, police said.

The man and his wife were pronounced dead at the scene. His 21-year-old daughter died at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. A 12-year-old daughter and the 26-year-old niece were in critical but stable condition at local hospitals.

Police did not reveal the names of the dead and injured.

“The suspect had a history of spousal abuse,” said Lt. John Dunkin, head of the homicide division of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau. “The event may have stemmed from a domestic dispute.”

About 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, officers patrolling the area heard shots, Dunkin said.

They drove to the 10800 block of South Gorman Avenue and were flagged down by the suspect’s 10-year-old son.

The son told the patrol officers, “Dad is shooting in the house.”

The officers found the couple dead and the three other victims seriously wounded. They discovered a semiautomatic handgun at the scene.

Neighbors said the suspect was an unemployed auto mechanic who had attempted to bring in some extra money by fixing cars in the yard of his house, a modest pink stucco bungalow. His wife, neighbors said, was a supermarket supervisor.

“He seemed like he was under a lot of pressure--money pressure,” said neighbor Mike Phipps.

Every morning, Phipps said, he drove his daughter and the suspect’s daughter, who are classmates, to their junior high school.

“His daughter told me this morning that they had money problems,” Phipps said. “She said her daddy was arrested with a suspended driver’s license and his truck was impounded. She said her mother spent all their money getting the truck out of impound.

“The little girl was sad this morning because her mother couldn’t give her any lunch money today . . . there wasn’t any money left.”

More than 15 shots were fired during the incident, said LAPD spokesman Jason Lee.

“Kids were playing in the street as usual,” said Callie Davis, who lives across the street. “We just thought that maybe they were firecrackers. I never thought it was anything like this.”