LOS ANGELES (AP) - A gunman who shot at police and holed up in a Watts home with three children Friday killed two people and then shot himself to death, police said.
SWAT team members entered the home after a two-hour standoff to find the man dead of an apparently self-inflicted head wound and a woman believed to be the children's mother mortally wounded, authorities said. The woman died at a hospital, police spokesman Richard French said.
Police earlier had said the woman appeared to be the gunman's wife but later said their marital state was unclear.
The standoff began at about 3 a.m. Friday as a domestic dispute. The gunman fatally wounded a man in a truck outside the house who later died and also got into a gunfight with arriving police but didn't hit them, Deputy Chief Robert Green told KABC-TV. He retreated to a house and continued firing at officers, Green said.
At one point during the two-hour standoff, an 8-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl came out of the house, Cmdr. Andy Smith told City News Service.
They told officers that "mom and dad" were dead in the home, Green said.
SWAT officers entered the home at about 5 a.m. Friday and found the dead man, the wounded woman and a 1-year-old boy who was unharmed.
Televised news reports showed a helmeted man in body armor carrying the child in his arms past a police tape.
Police took away all three children.
"They'll be in our custody until we identify relatives," Green said.
No officers were hurt.
The names of the victims were not immediately released.
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Information from: KABC-AM, http://www.kabc.com
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Information from: KABC-AM, http://www.kabc.com/
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