5 shot, 2 dead when gunman invades LA area home of ex-girlfriend, family

5 shot, 2 dead, when gunman invades LA area home

HAWAIIAN GARDENS, Calif. — A gunman with an assault rifle stormed his ex-girlfriend’s California home early Thursday and shot four people, killing two of them, before a sheriff’s deputy confronted and shot the attacker.

Los Angeles County Undersheriff Larry Waldie said a deputy on patrol heard automatic weapons fire, grabbed his AR-15 rifle and confronted the gunman outside the home.

The gunman pointed his AR-47 at the deputy, who shot the man twice, including once in the head, Waldie said.

There was no immediate word on the gunman’s condition but the deputy wasn’t hurt.

The deputy went inside the home in Hawaiian Gardens, south of Los Angeles, and found the bodies of the man’s ex-girlfriend and her 14-year-old brother. Her father and mother are hospitalized in critical condition with gunshot wounds. Six other people were also in the house and fled the attack.

“People jumped from windows and off the roof to escape,” Waldie said. “With those running out and the amount of shooting going on, he could have killed all 10 people.”

Waldie told KTLA-TV the gunman was distraught over the breakup and upset with the family.

No names were released.

The undersheriff said lives were saved because of the deputy’s reaction, noting the gunman was carrying a gasoline can and apparently planned to shoot others and burn down the home.

Waldie said the gunman first “shot his way into a side door” and shot the woman’s father at the door. He then went through the house, shooting the mother, and then headed upstairs, where he killed his ex-girlfriend and her brother.