California Murder-Suicide: Man Shoots Woman, 12-Year-Old Boy To Death Before Killing Self

In an apparent case of murder-suicide, two adults and a minor child were found dead with gunshot wounds at a home in Ceres, California.

Early Monday (June 15) around 2:13 a.m, officers from the Ceres Police Department were alerted about three people lying unresponsive in a pool of blood in an apartment. Officer Frederico Ortiz later confirmed that a neighbor made the 911 call.

Officers arrived at the apartment on the 2700 block of Roeding Road and found a man, woman, and a 12-year-old boy unresponsive with gunshot wounds. All three were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities were not released.

According to the police, an initial investigation into the incident revealed that the man shot the woman and the child, then turned the gun on himself.

“When you’re coming by here and you look up there, it’s sad to like…what really happened up there,” Alicia Noble, a neighbor, told CBS13. “You know, what made him snap? You know what I mean? But it’s really sad.”

The relationship between the woman and the man is being withheld pending notification from the family.

According to reports, the three were a family. Neighbors reported that they were a quiet family and kept to themselves. It was reported that a relative of the family was also present at the home at the time of the incident. The relative was not injured during the shooting.

However, the authorities have not confirmed the presence of anyone else in the home. They have also not released information regarding any previous reports of domestic-violence calls from the address or involving either of the adults.

“I’ve never heard them fight. Never heard nothing. The guy was actually a really nice guy,” Noble said. “One time my mom left her keys in the door and he knocked on the door saying, ‘Hey you left your keys in the door.’ But, you just don’t hear like that in these apartments.”

This was an ongoing investigation and no further details were available at the time of this writing.

The investigators have requested anyone with information about the shooting to contact Ceres Police Detective Matthew Berlier at (209) 538-5616.

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.