Reseda Couple’s Deaths Apparent Murder-Suicide

Los Angeles police detectives were looking into the circumstances behind an apparent murder-suicide after discovering a husband and wife dead from gunshot wounds this weekend inside their Reseda apartment.

Worried relatives of Joseph and Diana Shadi went to their apartment on Kittridge Street about 10:30 a.m. Saturday after not hearing from the couple in two days.

When knocks at the door went unanswered, relatives contacted the complex’s manager and entered the apartment. They discovered the bodies of Joseph Shadi, 46, and Diana Shadi, 43, on the bedroom floor.

The relatives called 911, and Fire Department paramedics responding to the scene pronounced the couple dead at 10:48 a.m.

Police began a homicide investigation shortly thereafter and concluded that Joseph Shadi, a self-employed electrical contractor, was shot several times in the head and upper back with a small-caliber handgun.

Diana Shadi, who was unemployed, sustained a single gunshot wound to the head. A .22-caliber gun registered to her was found in her hand. Police concluded that she shot her husband, then turned the gun on herself.

Neighbors told police they had been hearing arguments at the couple’s apartment for several weeks.

The Shadis, who had been married more than 10 years, had lived in the complex a little more than a year, police said.