Duarte Murder, Suicide Leaves 3 Kids

The day after a man and woman were found shot in a parking lot at the City of Hope National Medical Center, investigators said Wednesday that they believed the victims were a Monrovia fire captain who shot and killed his wife, then committed suicide.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators theorized that Fernando Rodriguez, 41, arranged to meet his wife, Katherine, 33, in the parking lot of the Duarte hospital in an effort to resolve ongoing marital difficulties, Sheriff’s Capt. Ray Peavy said.

He said detectives believe Rodriguez shot his wife at about 1:40 p.m. Tuesday after she got out of her car and climbed into her husband’s truck. He then apparently shot himself, dying while being transported to County-USC Medical Center. City of Hope specializes in treating cancer patients and does not have an emergency room.

“This is a real tragedy,” Peavy said. “They leave behind three young children. She volunteered with the disabled and she was a perfect soccer mom, we’re told.”

Peavy said investigators think the fire captain told his wife he was going to City of Hope for some kind of treatment.

Rodriguez had worked until noon Tuesday at the Monrovia Fire Department, then left in his truck, said Dick Singer, a spokesman for the city.

Rodriguez joined the department in 1990 and had been a captain since 1995. The couple lived in Rancho Cucamonga.